Music of the Spheres
by Teninshigen
Summary: I'd always been good at understanding things - be it science or language, comprehension came naturally to me. But what I couldn't understand, was the kind of power that can turn the tears of the dying into laughter. That knowledge was beyond me. But now, in this new world, I have a chance to grasp it, to understand it - the power of Fairy Tail. (Self-Insert; Lucy/OC)
1. 0 - Prologue

When you're young, you think you'll live forever. The idea of death hasn't sunk in yet, you can't grasp the concept or even conceive of the possibility that, one day, life just...ends.

I was no different. Even when I thought I understood it, thought I'd accepted it, I didn't truly understand mortality until I was seventeen years old.

That was the worst year of my life – and the last year of my best friend's life.

It was genetic, they said – something she inherited from her mother. They called it 'terminal', 'incurable', and said 'sorry' a lot.

The worst part was, they meant it.

But apologies weren't worth anything in the face of what was, for me, a world-shattering truth.

We'd been friends ever since our first year of highschool, when general social awkwardness drove us both into the library, to the same little corner of the Fiction section. The conversation hadn't been great, but it had been there; a few shared interests later, we were inseparable.

A lot of people thought we were a couple, considering neither of us dated and we were rarely seen without one another in school. It wasn't true, oddly enough. Did I love her? After a fashion. She was the little sister I'd never had...or, occasionally, the older sister. Maybe even a mischievous twin, from time to time. Certainly, a lot of people thought we were joined at the hip.

We let people think what they wanted. We didn't care about them; we just wanted to get our qualifications and go out to take the world by storm, laughing all the way like lunatics.

I wasn't laughing when she called me over the phone and told me she was dying.

If I'm entirely honest, I don't remember much of what I did after I heard that. There was shouting involved, and I think I might have punched someone, but I came to my senses having broken through the library window and curled up in that same little corner of the Fiction section.

My emotional state only got worse from there.

I spent what felt like a lifetime's rage in weeks, until I was too burnt out to even curse the world any more. I did all my studying at her bedside once she got too weak to stay at home, spending more time with her than I did at school.

When my family went on holiday, I stayed behind. _That_ was a shouting match and a half, but I got my way in the end.

I wasn't going to leave her. Not for anything.

A year seemed like a long time, while it was just the two of us in school. We joked about it; how it was Declan and Heather against the world, how it was trying to slow us down but we'd never let it. We spat in the face of public perceptions and set fire to its security blanket, our time stretching out forever.

The months flew by me like bullets at that bedside.

She was barely ever awake, near the end. When she _did_ wake, she was rarely lucid, more often than not simply smiling vaguely in my direction as I held her hand.

Her last lucid moment also produced the last words she spoke.

"We had some good times, didn't we? So many dreams... Hey, can you do me a favour? When I'm gone, please, go make some of our dreams come true. I'll be watching you from whatever afterlife dares take me, so don't think I won't know if you're slacking!"

She laughed, then went to sleep with a smile on her face.

Two weeks later, she passed away in that same sleep.

Typical of her. She never let me have the last word.

* * *

Her family asked me to help pack up her things. As it turned out, with the exception of what savings she'd accrued and a few personal affects, her Will had bequeathed a great deal of her possessions to me.

Namely, her library.

I was a bookworm, and I freely admitted it. Heather? Heather was _Smaug_ next to me. Her walls were almost made of literature, though she would never have described it that way. She was a firm proponent of there being a difference between Literature and a Good Book.

I'd come to feel the same way. I always came around to her point of view, in the end – she had that kind of effect on me.

There was one series in particular that she'd read almost all the way through over the course of her final year. It wasn't British, European, or even American; instead, it was a small mountain of manga – a manga called Fairy Tail.

While she read it, I would often watch her face from behind my own book, or my notes. Sometimes she seemed awed, and sometimes she seemed exasperated. She got angry a few times, and I swear I saw tears in her eyes on occasion.

But more often than not, she was smiling. Smiling and laughing, her face alight with mirth and joy as she read.

I couldn't understand it.

She was _dying_. Her life and all her dreams were coming to an end. Yet, she still laughed...and at the Japanese equivalent of _comic books?_ It made no sense whatsoever.

So, when I ended up at the reading of the Will, and when I heard that she'd left her library to me, I knew what I was reading first.

Several nights later, I sat in my apartment, staring at the thin volume in my hands. There were boxes piled everywhere in my little living area; I had moved out of my parents' house not so long ago. It seemed that my putting Heather before them hadn't sat well, and my brother and I mostly stayed out of each others' way in any case.

This was my little kingdom. Or, really, my own little mausoleum.

It tapped my fingers on the cover. Fairy Tail, volume one.

Heather was gone...but here was something that could help keep her memory alive in me.

I opened the cover, and began to read.

Then I promptly closed it again, flipped the book upside-down, and tried again.

That was better.

* * *

"K... H...y, ...d. ...an yo... h...r me? H...llo? Kid!"

Oh. Oh, _God_ , _PAIN._

My ability to scream apparently short-circuited for the moment, I managed a pitiful moan instead. What the actual Hell? I'd gone to sleep last night...er...this morning... _late_ this morning, after having read my way through a goodly chunk of the volumes I'd been left, taking in the story and the characters, trying to _understand._

Honestly, I could see it somewhat...but, the manga didn't seem to do for me what it had done for Heather. I couldn't seem to crack a smile, or shed a tear. I wondered if I had burned myself out more than I'd suspected, to the point of emotionlessness.

One way or another, the _throbbing_ my entire body was experiencing was like a mix of cramps, a full-body beating, a fall from a great height _and_ an intensive exercise regime rolled into one and then used to beat me again. I didn't know what could have caused that, but my train of thought was derailed by the sensation of a hand gripping my heart.

I moaned again; it felt almost like I suddenly had a second heartbeat, and even as I registered that, there was a... _sensation_ , running through me. It was almost like being submerged in water, but at the same time it reminded me of taking a breath. It was a strange, alien feeling, and it seemed to pulse in time with the sharp pain in my chest.

Idly, I realised that the voice I'd heard earlier was shouting for help now, and that I could hear running feet. I tried to pay attention, and managed to catch parts of the conversation around my headache. "Lying here...half-dead...healer...Hargeon..."

Wait...what was that last one?

I strained my ears, gritting my teeth around the increased pain in my head, hoping that my ears had somehow deceived me and that this person had _not_ just said- "New lady...Magnolia...small Guild..."

Oh shit. Oh _shit_. Hargeon, Magnolia, Guild. I recognised all of those terms, especially when they were used in concert.

With an effort which seemed _far_ more monumental than it ought to, I managed to get my eyes open. A fairly nondescript (or maybe that was the blurry vision talking), middle-aged (probably) man (almost certainly) was kneeling beside me, a similar figure crouching to the their left and two others mirroring them on my right side. "Ready?" One of them asked, the first voice, and the others nodded. "Then on one, two, three!"

They slid their hands under my shoulders and knees, lifting me between all four of them and raising my point of view.

Looking forward, I saw that we were atop a cliff – and that, spread out below me, was a port town, with a couple of stone piers, a lighthouse built on an island a fair ways into the bay, and roofs painted in colours ranging from pink and red to turquoise and navy blue.

"Don't worry kid," one of the men said. "We'll get you to Hargeon safe and sound – the healer there'll fix you up."

Oh God.

I was in Fairy Tail. I was _in Fairy Tail_.

Just before I passed out, from a mix of exhaustion, shock and sheer dint of pain, I found that I couldn't help but be excited by the prospect.

Maybe, from inside the story, I could come to understand just how Heather could smile.

* * *

When I next came to, I was lying on a bed. I was still throbbing, but I could think now, and that strange submersion/breathing sensation had lessened, alongside the ache in my chest – the strange second heartbeat was more natural, less like a hand gripping my true heart and more like a pump set alongside it.

I wasn't entirely sure how that had come about, or what it signified, but then again I was probably going to have to deal with a lot of that in the future.

I was in Fairy Tail. Somehow, I had gone from my apartment filled with books, to being laid out and feeling like death warmed over on the cliffs above Hargeon, the first location seen in the manga.

I should probably have been in more shock, right about now...but I'd been living life through a cotton wool haze these past days. I didn't even know if I could summon the energy to be afraid, or angry, or... _anything_ , about this. Feeling was just...too much work, now.

Grunting, I tried to sit up. I was met with a modicum of success, although the muscles I was using screamed in protest. I didn't bother listening to them – I was well used to 'character building', as my father called it, and this was no worse than any post-workout burn.

Discounting reality displacement, of course.

Once I was partially vertical, I cast my gaze around. The ward seemed fairly consistent with what I'd seen from Fairy Tail's infirmary in the manga – flagstone floor and stone walls, the ceiling wooden. The bed I was lying on had crisp white sheets, the frame wood instead of metal.

There were a few other people lying on various beds, all appearing to be asleep; they were dressed in an eclectic mix, though. Every primary colour was on vibrant display on various robes, interspersed with seemingly more ordinary clothing like trousers and shirts.

This appeared to be a male ward – and, unless I missed my guess, the strange fashion senses on display seemed to make it likely that this was a ward for dealing with magic users. But that didn't make much sense; if this was a ward for magic users, what was I doing here?

I remembered that the ratio of normal humans to Mages was roughly nine to one; and I hadn't exhibited any signs of being able to use magic before I woke up here. I didn't even have any kind of training, which I knew was necessary for using magic in the first place.

Still, if my guess panned out, the fact that I was here was rather telling.

Looking down at myself, I found that I was dressed in the same outfit I'd passed out in while reading – namely, the same outfit that I'd worn out the door that morning. Outdoor trousers, the kind with zip-up pockets and detachable legs; an under-armour shirt, plus a plain blue t-shirt; and my jumper, a thin hoodie coloured a redwood-brown.

Looking to the side of the bed, I found a night cabinet and a chair. Beneath the chair were my battered black-and-white trainers, looking no more the worse for wear than they had that morning. Likewise, my outfit seemed intact, beyond the usual signs of consistent use.

So, whatever had happened to me probably hadn't constituted physical injury. Yet, I felt like I'd been run over several times in quick succession, which was an _improvement_ over how I'd felt upon awakening for the first time.

I knew this was a world of magic, where the metaphysical and the spiritual could be affected just as easily as the physical, and where there were far more dimensions to...well, everything, than I was used to. So, had magic been responsible for this?

...That was a stupid question. Nothing on my side of this...inter-dimensional fence I'd hopped could have sent me here, meaning someone had opened the door from this side. The questions were, 'Why' and 'How'.

Actually, 'When' could go on that list too. I needed a plan, for what I was going to do. A quick inventory check revealed that I still had my thin, camo-pattern wallet, but that the change, notes and debit card within were gone. Likewise, my cellphone and iPod had disappeared.

I took a moment to mourn the loss of my music before continuing my self-assessment.

I had both my knives – the Highlander Kingfisher, which was just short of the maximum legal length for a knife which could be carried in public, in Scotland at least – namely three inches, or roughly seven and a half centimetres – and the Leatherman Squirt, which was more of a multitool. My notepad and pencil, usually used to note down writing ideas (I kept it mostly out of habit - I hadn't written in it for months now), were also present.

But that was it. I had an empty wallet, two knives, a pencil and paper and the clothes on my back. That was _not_ a good start in this or any other world, and I needed some way to make money quickly or I was going to go hungry real fast.

Deciding that the first step on that route was finding a library to do some research, I swung my legs out of the bed with a grimace, setting my socked feet on the stone floor and bracing myself to rise. The moment my toes touched he flagstones though, a weird sensation intruded on my focus.

It was...somewhere between plucking a guitar string and hearing the note played. But even stranger, paying attention to it seemed to cause my spatial awareness to expand. In much the same fashion as I could touch my hands together without having to see them, I felt like I could see wherever it was this sensation was leading to, like following a trail as it headed out of the ward and on to a point which radiated the same pseudo-audial sensation, but with a suggestion of... _radiance._ Like being able to tell the difference between a dark room and a lit one even with your eyes closed.

All in all, it was quite possibly the single most confusing thing I'd ever experienced - and I'd wrapped my head around things like the Theory of Relativity.

I shook my head, trying to banish the disorientation the sensation had brought, but looked up when the doors to the ward opened and a figure in white bustled in.

It was a middle-aged woman, greying hair done up in a bun and a no-nonsense look fixed on her face. Her uniform, or what I assumed to be her uniform, consisted of what seemed to be a simple dark grey dress, with a peaked cap on her head and some kind of white mantle hanging down to her midsection, with a red caduceus symbol over her heart.

She crossed to where I was sitting on the edge of the bed faster than I would have expected, putting her hands on her hips and frowning at me. "And where, pray tell, are _you_ going in such a a hurry, Mr...?"

Some part of her voice went straight to the part of my head which governed instant obedience and start pulling levers, and I answered without really thinking about it. "Ross, Declan Ross. I was going to go and find a library..."

The woman snorted, shaking her head disapprovingly. "You Mages and your books...I've said it time and time again, spending days upon days locked away and doing nothing but reading doesn't do anyone any good in the long run!"

Shaking her head once more and muttering, the woman gestured to my feet. "Well get those back in bed; you were almost completely out of magical power when you got in here, it's a wonder you didn't fall into a coma!"

I did as instructed, if a bit reluctantly, as I considered what she'd said. Apparently she was under the impression that I was a Mage – probably because, according to her, I'd been drained of magical power, which I knew to be how the Mages in the manga powered their abilities. "So, that's why I feel like this?"

The woman nodded, curtly. "Indeed; whatever it was you were doing out there, it just about wiped out your entire energy reserves. In fact, it seems you even tapped the stored energy in your body's cells – something I didn't even know was _possible_ until today. Hence what I'm assuming is a rather impressive collection of aches and pains."

I couldn't help but grimace my agreement with that assessment. Still, I'd learned a few things from this little conversation.

A, if I was in any remaining doubt, I was definitely in Fairy Tail and in all probability not dreaming.

B, I could apparently do magic now, or had the potential to do it; that would certainly explain that confusing experience a moment ago.

C, I should probably avoid ever getting this low on magical power again, because _damn_ this hurt.

Sighing, I looked up at the woman who was checking a clipboard at the end of my bed. "Well then, thanks for looking after me miss...?"

The woman raised an eyebrow, but answered anyway. "Amelia. _Matron_ Amelia."

Getting the point, I nodded quickly. "Right. Thanks for looking after me, Matron Amelia."

Nodding in approval, the Matron replaced the clipboard after marking something down on it, then headed for the doors once more. "Focus on resting for now, Mr Ross. You should be recovered in two or three days, at which point you'll be released."

Suddenly struck by a horrible thought, I called after her. "Ah, Matron Amelia? How am I going to pay for your help? I don't have any money."

Stopping abruptly, the woman turned on her heel, shooting me a look that was partly respectful, but also partly annoyed. "Mr Ross, I do not charge patients who are carried into my ward with no money, no identification and no incriminating injuries. All you have necessitated from me is the use of a bed which was unoccupied in any case."

Thus relieved, I let out another sigh, before sinking back to lie down properly on the bed. The aching was starting to get to me, and I escaped into the dreary abyss of sleep barely seconds after the ward's doors had closed behind the Matron.

* * *

True to my keeper's words, I was up and mobile two days later. Stepping out into the street, I took in my first proper look at this new world I had found myself in.

It was...oddly familiar.

Really, there weren't many obvious differences from the home I'd left behind beyond the technology difference. Fashion sense maybe, but Hargeon seemed to blend the convenience of 'modern' times with the sensibilities of a time gone by. It was...oddly refreshing.

Then again, I'd always been called old fashioned, so maybe that was just me.

Things like toilets, baths and showers existed here. However, everything ran on magic, as opposed to electricity and combustion engines. The main modes of transportation were trains, ships, wagons and your own two feet. Or, of course, whatever esoteric means of transportation a Mage happened to possess.

The buildings were constructed from stone - I wasn't sure what kind though, particularly since there seemed to be very little rhyme or reason to their construction. Colours ranged from yellows to blues, passing through green on the way; some buildings were purely stone on the exterior, while others seemed to have incorporated wood as a support material. Businesses and unmarked buildings which were probably residences stood side by side or perhaps one on top of the other, while the heights ranged from simple two-storeys to towers which wouldn't have been out of place serving as church steeples.

It was chaotic, in a very placid kind of way. Disordered, but very... _bright._

I almost wanted to shade my eyes. Still, I had more important things to be thinking about than the scenery.

My first point of business: Find myself a job. With no ID of any kind, no references, no family, no money, and no real skills which would be applicable here.

Suddenly, my years of learning how to work with computers didn't seem quite so fulfilling.

Still, I had to start somewhere, so I set off into the crowd in search of employment.

* * *

My search was...about as fruitful as I'd been expecting, honestly.

I'd wandered what must have been damn near every street in this town, and at least poked my head in the door of every shop I'd come across. Yet, no luck. Either they weren't hiring, or they specifically weren't hiring _me_.

At this point, I was down to what was, to my knowledge, the literal last shop in Hargeon that I hadn't tried yet. It was painted a navy blue, with the shingles on the roof having a pattern almost similar to fish scales, with blues ranging from turquoise to darker shades than the building proper. Dark wooden beams seemed to indicate where the first, second and third floors were separated, while a white sign hanging above the front door read 'Proper Grocer' above what I thought was a red octopus - whatever the hell kind of name that was meant to be. A cream awning hung over the front of the store, providing shade and shelter.

This was to be either my salvation...or the last nail in my coffin.

I pushed inside, cast my eyes around...and suddenly realised where I'd found myself.

The shop floor was fairly small; not incredibly cramped, but certainly nothing impressive. The counter was set on the wall opposite the front door, with a velvety-blue curtain hanging behind it probably concealing the stairs to the second level and several posters pinned to its front. On the counter itself, there was a bronze till (strangely out of place in a world of fantasy) and a box set at an incline filled with stones, like the 'birth stones' displays a lot of gift shops liked to sucker people with.

Looking in from the door, on the right-hand side of the store was a glass-fronted bookcase prominently displaying several books, all with titles like 'Wizardry' and 'Sorcery', featuring very occult-looking scenes and symbols. Further into the store, there was a set of shelves where vases, small chests and other containers had been placed, likely containing reagents or similar.

A couple of wooden pedestals displayed objects like a crystal ball and some miscellaneous metal objects I didn't recognise. Forming an island in the middle of the floor where two more sets of shelves set back-to-back, featuring more containers - largely vases and bottles.

The left-hand side of the store seemed to have been left mostly clear; there was another set of shelves complete with various containers directly left of the door moving in, but moving up toward the counter there was only what looked like a chest of drawers of some kind.

Just to make the place seemed smaller, there were several objects hanging from the roof - including a lamp that could have been taken straight out of Aladdin.

Then I set eyes on the owner, who was standing behind the counter watching me look around with a notably inscrutable smile fixed in place.

 _There_ was a character design I wasn't going to forget in a hurry. There were only so many people with pig's noses, a dark-gray hair which stuck out to either side like horns and a conical hat with a star on the front and a sphere atop it going around after all, even in Japanese media. "Welcome!" The man greeted me, bright smile in place. "Can I help you with anything, sir?"

"Yes actually," I replied, shaking myself as I focussed on the man. This was...just about perfect, actually. If I could get myself a job in this store, the rest of my rapidly evolving plan could spring from it with ease. "I was wondering, do you have any interest in some help around the store? I recently found myself in some rather dire straits, and at this point I just need _any_ job that I can earn some pay for."

I tried to form a 'please believe me' face as I made my plea – but really, judging by the way I had to consciously shift the muscles instead of letting the expression form, it probably didn't look right. Still, I need this to happen, so I had to make the effort - and the man might have realised that as he looked me up and down.

I probably wasn't the most impressive sight. I kept myself in shape more out of vanity and mild necessity than anything else, since I was often called on to help move heavy objects or run errands. As a result, my build was fairly balanced – a sort of cross between a weightlifter and a runner. One way or another, it kept me slim but physically competent, and that was enough for me.

Really, not much stood out about me. My skin was somewhat tanned from time spent in the sun for various reasons, my hair was about as pitch black as human genetics could manage - kept short, 'mole fur' as my mother used to call it - and my eyes had the odd tendency to fluctuate between a murky green and a stormy grey depending on the lighting. Not even I was entirely sure what their true colour was.

I was a fairly average face, with a somewhat above average build. But still, the man seemed to find _something_ worth looking at, because he began to smile again after adopting a shrewd expression. "Hm...as a matter of fact, I do believe there is something you can do for me."

Retreating into the space behind his counter for a moment, the shop owner returned with some kind of glassy orb. "Do you mind placing your hand on here quickly?"

I shrugged, doing as he'd asked. I didn't feel like I was going to be in any danger from this guy, and unlike several of the artefacts which had been laying around the hospital where I'd been staying, this orb didn't give off a 'feeling'.

It was an odd talent that I seemed to have picked up. If an object contained magic, it seemed to...strike a chord somewhere in me. Like a part of my soul was resonating with it. The feelings varied, from the alarm on the floor of the ward to the sort of magical x-ray in a pane of glass Amelia had passed over my chest on the second day - even if I couldn't quite make sense of the differences yet, I could recognise that there _were_ differences.

As I rested my hand on the sphere, yet another sensation I couldn't place started up in my hand. It kind of reminded me of when a nurse took my blood, except my body was unharmed. The only logical conclusion was that the orb was taking magical power from me, and I felt I was proven right when, after a few seconds, the sensation cut off and the orb began resonating.

Unlike the other sensations I'd been exposed to lately, this one was clearer - or, perhaps, more familiar. It was hard to put into words...but, 'Weighty' seemed closest - a suggestion of an inexorable downward pull on my sixth sense. The orb itself had changed to my eyes, as well; a corona of light, starting at purple and fading through the spectrum to black, danced within it like a campfire.

The shop owner let out a low whistle. "That's a fine magic power you've got there," he informed me, looking up from the sphere. "If you really want a job, then I _could_ use an assistant. Someone to help keep the place ticking over." He frowned, then continued. "Plus, though I might be the only Magic Shop in Hargeon, I've been wanting to expand for a while now; the problem is, a lot of products run down their power even in storage, and I have no way of recharging them. No magic of my own, you see."

I chose not to comment on it; I wasn't entirely sure of the sentiments on either side of the magical/non-magical divide here. Was it like an X-Men scenario? Or perhaps a more cooperative view? The latter certainly seemed to be the case on the wide scale, but I wasn't sure about the small-scale, which would pertain to a town like Hargeon. One way or another, better to keep my mouth shut until I understood more.

"If you were around, you'd be able to keep them topped up so I could demonstrate them to customers," the man concluded. "That sound okay to you?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine with that."

It was a simple job. Act as an assistant, which seemed to mean a kind of handyman in this context, and occasionally put magic into a product. Not a particularly big deal.

Well...assuming I could figure out how to actually _use_ my magic, anyway. I'd yet to visit the library, and my probing attempts to work with the 'second heartbeat' I'd been getting used to had met with abysmal failure.

"Excellent!" The older man cried. "My name's Chester, Buggy Chester. You are?"

The now-named Buggy extended a hand, and I shook it. "Declan Ross. I won't let you down, Mr Chester."

* * *

I got to work immediately, learning the function of each of the devices my new boss kept stocked on the building's third floor, as well as the number currently in stock and where they all went. It was a bit of a steep learning curve, but I'd had worse, and I stuck with it until I was finding my way around the displays without really having to think about it.

I re-organised the stock room first; as it turned out, Buggy had been meaning to do so for ages, but his back wasn't what it used to be and the top shelves had proven the undoing of his below-average height. When that task was accomplished and my borderline-OCD born from too many hours of Minecraft was satisfied, I started looking at the shop floor itself.

First things first was getting it clean and keeping it that way. I'd found a broom tucked away in a cupboard off the stock room, and set to work getting the wooden floor cleared. Admittedly, when the cleaning implement suddenly grew arms and started lifting the shelves so I could get under them, I damn near tossed it away – but really, I didn't even feel like I could have expressed shock beyond that. It would take too much energy. So, I simply thanked the wood and straw.

It gave me a thumbs-up, and I idly bade farewell to a little bit more of my sanity.

Getting the storeroom, cupboard and shop floor cleared of dust, leaves, rocks, sand and various other detritus ate up a couple of hours, during which time no one came to visit, and Buggy sat dozing in his chair behind the counter. Hell, he didn't even stop snoring when the broom lifted him out of the way, chair and all.

And if _that_ didn't set the tone for how my time working with Buggy was going to go, nothing would.

I had just finished shooing the last of the various impurities out the door with my semi-sentient tool (which Buggy had helpfully informed me was called 'Cleansweep') when we got the first customer of the day.

A teenage girl, a brunette with an irritatingly squeaky voice, practically _skipped_ inside in order to purchase a device I actually recognised from the manga – a ColorS. Without the U.

Goddamn Americanisms.

It was that simple interaction which brought about the realisation that, in this world, magic was _not_ the reality-shattering revelation that it would have been back home, or that it _was,_ even for me. It was a widely accepted art-form, science and engineering principal, something that people had been raised alongside and had lived with for a very long time.

Here, magic was...ordinary.

It took me a couple of minutes just to sit down and come to terms with that, Cleansweep apparently noting my fragile state of mind and patting me consolingly on the shoulder.

I had to wonder just how sentient this item was – and if such a level of intelligence was present in more magical devices, or if Cleansweep was unique.

The rest of my day passed uneventfully, and I went to sleep that night with a meal in my stomach, courtesy of Buggy paying my first week's cheque in advance. It was a show of trust from the man that was good for me, if a touch illogical based on his only brief acquaintance with me, and I decided that I should attempt to repay that faith with a greater effort in my work.

He'd told me that he could handle the store himself for the next couple of days, while I got used to the town, since it was the weekend anyway and he'd only be open for a few hours around midday in any case.

So, when I awoke and left the room in the Inn which was my home for the foreseeable future, I headed straight to the Hargeon Library with a purpose in my step.

If all evidence pointed to me having magic, that meant that I had a resource at my disposal which I wasn't currently exploiting – a resource which could potentially become a massive aid to me in the future. I needed to learn, and quickly.

* * *

 _Time Skip_

Frowning to myself in badly muted frustration, I let out a low breath through my nose as I once again failed to manifest the energy which I _knew_ I possessed. My frustration was running as high as it seemed possible for me to experience these days at the moment; understandable, perhaps, seeing as this was my third week in Earthland and I didn't seem to be getting any closer to using magic.

My time in the library had definitely been helpful; there were several volumes on the history of magic, its use and, when I went looking for it, a treatise on the creation or rediscovery of new/forgotten types of magic - all texts which seemed to have been widely distributed and just as widely stocked. Put together, they made for something of a beginner's primer on becoming a Mage - which made sense to me. After all, better to have newly manifested magic users who had a basic idea of what they were doing, than risk ten percent of the population trying to figure it out on their own.

If my experiences with DIY on Earth were anything to go by, the consequences of the same idea in Earthland, where reality was shaped with thoughts and gestures, would be...well, bloody terrifying.

According to the treatise, once you got down to it, there seemed to be three ways for someone to learn magic. The first, and the one I was familiar with from the manga, was learning from someone else, or making some kind of contract with a magical being; in this case, they were unlikely to ever learn more than one magic, for reasons which were referenced but not fully explained. (When I read the appendix and saw, 'Hawthorne's Principle of the Resonance of Magical Cores in Master/Apprentice Bonds and its Effects on Magical Affinity' was the shortest title on the list of referenced texts, I could understand why.)

Another route was manifesting a magical talent naturally through the instinctive manipulation of magical power, the result pf being decided by some metaphysical aspect of the user's being (again, the appendix almost made me yawn just looking at the titles). Or, there was the 'Not Recommended' route - experimenting with various ways of doing things until a working system was developed (I disregarded that possibility after I found an obituary listed in the appendix).

As Hargeon had no resident Mages, and travellers passing through would likely want to be paid money I didn't have for imparting their skills, I couldn't ask to learn magic from someone else. Simultaneously, I didn't particularly want to learn in that fashion even if it was a possibility - after all, this was _Fairy Tail;_ a world of wildly varying magical abilities, where reality was changed on a whim. Learning magic would, no matter what, be the single most fascinating pursuit I ever underwent - but if I could have the option to learn more than one, as Makarov Dreyer's character page alluded to the man himself having done, then I wanted to take that path.

To further cement my choice, the possibility of contracting with a magical creature simply didn't appeal to me – no matter how benevolent creatures like Igneel might be, I still recalled the stories of the Seelie and the Unseelie.

Relevance to my current situation aside, it wasn't in me to trust a magical being with something so fundamental to my life as the reflection of my willpower made manifest in the world around me.

Or, that was how magic was described in the books I'd read, anyway.

According to them, a Mage's magical power was influenced by the size of the 'container' within their body – a metaphysical thing rather than a biological one, but the wellspring of magic nonetheless. That container drew in Ethernano, magic particles, from the air, and then the Mage could channel it from within themselves in the form of spells, according to training, natural inclination, willpower, or a mix of the three.

Magical power grew with time, and with training – just like any aspect of a human being. Based on what I'd managed to surreptitiously get out of Amelia, and what Buggy had said, I'd apparently started out with a decent well of power to draw from. Thus, what I needed to do was move that power from within me, into the world around me, so I could discover what kind of magic I was naturally inclined to perform.

This was where I'd hit a snag. Namely, that the instructions for actually using magic boiled down to 'There are no instructions'. So, I'd been experimenting with different ways of drawing out my own power.

At this point, I was trying the Nasuverse way. In that canon, everybody had their own triggers, their own mental images, habits or tricks that summoned their magic. The vast majority of people tended to train themselves to perform specific actions accompanying phrases – hence incantations, and yelling attack names at all and sundry, 'surprise' attack or no.

So, I was trying to come up with something that would work for me – but I hadn't had any success so far. I'd tried Shirou's old 'hammer of a gun' image, I'd tried shattering glass a la Persona, I'd tried taking a stance a la DxD...I was almost desperate enough at this point to find a stick and start yelling about the joules per second output of a refractive device related to an Earth-orbiting satellite.

I had run through the vast majority of my pop culture data-banks in the past three weeks, and in trying to invent new possibilities I had developed a headache which thudded in my ears with each beat of my heart, the rushing sound of blood flooding through my body stealing more of my attention.

I paused. A flood...well, there was branch of images I hadn't tried yet.

I closed my eyes again, letting the wind blowing through the clearing calm me down. I'd hidden myself away in a little clearing in the woods, atop the cliffs overlooking Hargeon, to ensure myself some privacy, and some quiet for my little experiments.

My first attempt, a dam breaking, led to nothing.

Likewise my second attempt, a sudden submersion in water, was a bust - as was water freezing over, boiling away, a rainbow shining through spray and the swell of an ocean tide.

Starting to feel my headache encroach on my focus again, I decided to try once more. One more attempt, then I was done for the day, and I would go back to the library to continue researching Earthland or, perhaps more specifically, Fiore's history - so I had at least the basic information anyone might be expected to know.

Casting around my imagination for any water-related trigger image I could conceive of, I finally reached one. I'd had water coming sideways, going forward, going up and me going into it...but I hadn't tried water going down.

Letting out a long breath, letting the movement of air distract me from my headache for a few moments, I concentrated on both the thrum of my magical power in my chest, and the newly generated image of a waterfall in my head, recreating the sensation of the crushing weight suddenly falling on my head and shoulders, like a shower only hundreds of times more voluminous and powerful.

After a moment, I realised that I wasn't just imagining it any-more. The warm pulsing in my chest had spread out, further with each _thud_ of my heart, until everywhere from the tips of my hair to the tips of my fingers and toes were tingling with power. It suffused my entire body, granting an awareness beyond even my normal spatial awareness, as if I'd spontaneously developed an entire supplementary nervous system.

It felt... _amazing_. Like a massage, a warm bath, my favourite meal, a fluffy blanket and a good book somehow rolled up into a teddy bear and with a kitten just for the hell of it. It was like coming home after being away for years and years, like waking up from a dream only to find that your life was even better than what your sleeping mind could conjure, and my headache seemed inconsequential. In fact, _everything_ seemed inconsequential - like for as long as I stayed like this, nothing else could possibly matter.

It...reminded me of Heather.

With that thought, my chest pulsed with a dull ache - just as it always did when my thoughts turned to her. What was _not_ usual, however, was the sudden cracking sound which coincided with it, and my eyes flew open.

What I found, was that the tree directly in front of where I sat had just broken away from the ground and risen into the air.

I stared disbelievingly at it for a long moment; the massive plant, complete with large clumps of earth between its roots, simply hovering in place as if it were perfectly natural.

Idly noting that the magical power flowing through me hadn't subsided yet, I stood carefully and approached, trying to maintain the feeling of the waterfall, of the power running down through me and out into the world.

I reached the tree, then extended one arm and poked it. The touch sent it drifting lazily away, and I looked in mild awe between it and my outstretched finger. "Gravity..." I breathed. "I placed it in zero gravity..."

I frowned, looking over to where the tree had bobbed along until it collided with another tree, whereupon their branches became tangled and the floating plant got stuck. "No...I _reversed_ gravity on it, then _counteracted_ the force once it reached a certain height, before balancing the force and placing it in a zero gravity field..."

I hadn't been trying to do that. I didn't even know how I'd _go about_ doing that. And yet, unless someone was _really_ messing with me, that was exactly what had just happened.

"Strange..." I muttered to myself, as I brought my arm back in and stared at the palm, then to the still-floating tree. "The feeling isn't lessening at all...so this probably isn't costing me much magical power at all..."

I tilted my head, examining the tree. "Maybe...if this was telekinesis, then I'd be having to work against gravity in order to move the tree. However, if I'm working with gravity _itself_ , then..." I took in a sharp breath, the implications hitting me. "Only the area of effect matters; the mass within that area is irrelevant."

That was...that was _huge_. I'd seen telekinesis put to some amazing uses in various media, but a big limitation was always the mass which could be lifted at one time. If I didn't have that limitation...and especially, assuming that my ability didn't mess with the object's mass...

Striding forward, I grabbed the trunk of the tree and started walking backwards, finding myself somewhat awed that I actually moved it with no real difficulty beyond getting the branches untangled. When I reached the centre of the clearing, I was effectively holding a several metre long, multi-tonne clobbering weapon.

Setting myself into the stance I vaguely remembered using for baseball back in PE classes, even if it was really awkward using the tree this way, I swung the plant as hard as I could at another of its ilk. There was a lot of air resistance, but that was all – and so when the weightless tree impacted, the smaller tree which I'd targeted snapped right down the middle, falling with a _crash_.

I stared from it to the _whole_ _tree_ in my hands, then at my hands, and then I stepped back while letting go of the weightless plant.

It bobbed towards me a bit with momentum, but came to a stop and just...hovered. Not even moving up and down; it just...stayed there.

I would have jumped for joy, I would have smiled, I would have loosed the mother of all evil scientist laughs at the sheer number of applications I could think of for manipulating one of the universe's most basic yet mysterious phenomena...but I couldn't.

Not just because I'd yet to manage even one of those expressions since I'd arrived here...but because all I could think of, was that I wished Heather could see me now.

With the twinge in my chest, I had to jump back as the tree fell, gravity re-asserting itself with no warning as a cacophonous impact echoed through the woods for the second time in as many seconds.

I stared at it, feeling that the magical power had largely retreated from my body...but it was still there. Not as bright or vibrant as it had been, but definitely still there, like the difference between the charge for an eco-friendly lightbulb and that of a halogen spotlight.

"So..." I murmured, "I guess magical power is affected by emotion, huh?"

That...could be a problem. But for now, it was enough for me to know that yes, I _could_ do magic, and yes, I _had_ got something awesome.

Not that I'd have been cursing my luck or anything, even if I'd gotten something less powerful or useful – just the ability to do magic was enough in and of itself – but with something like this, my plan seemed all but assured.

All that was left now, was to learn how to properly use this ability of mine, and wait for a certain customer to appear.

I didn't know how much time I had. So, sitting down and crossing my legs once more, headache and dull frustration forgotten, I began to focus – I could be moving on to the next phase of the plan any day now.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **Greetings, one and all! I'm the writer formerly known as meldrumminer, now renamed as Teninshigen, and you've just finished the first chapter of my first self-insert story in my first foray into Fairy Tail.**

 **That's a lot of firsts, so give yourself a scout's badge for that.**

 **This was a rabid plot bunny that just got to me, starting out based around the idea of manipulating gravity, then growing into 'what characters I'd like to write had that ability', which eventually boiled down to 'none of them'. So, I made my own, and decided to set it in a world where the ability is proven to exist, even if it isn't explored as fully as it likely will be in this story.**

 **The character is quite heavily based on me, and how I'd like to think I'd react in this kind of situation. Thankfully for me, the character on which Heather is based is very much alive and kicking (probably my ass for killing her off in my story), just in case anyone was wondering.**

 **Now, quick warning – I'll be re-reading Fairy Tail as I go with this, consulting the wiki and some timelines to sort out the filler – except the stuff I want to keep, of course. So there might be some errors. Feel free to point them out if you spot them.**

 **I hope you enjoyed reading, and that it's interesting enough to keep you coming back for more. Leave a review if you can think of anything it might be good to add or remove, or if you just want to make your opinion known.**

 **'Till next time!**


	2. I - Initial Velocity

**Six Months Later, July 2, X784**

* * *

 _Third Person POV_

The door to the Proper Grocer flew open seemingly of its own volition, followed seconds later by a man with blue hair and a tattoo on his right temple. He was dressed in a white shirt and striped red trousers, with a dark blue cloak with golden edging and a lighter-blue design like a stylised ship's wheel on each shoulder.

He crashed into the street outside the store, drawing attention from a few of the locals who then shook their heads and moved on.

They were kind of used to that kind of thing by now – after all, ever since Old Man Chester hired _him_ , more and more people had been coming to Hargeon - most of them looking for a fight for one reason or another, and more than a couple to make a recruitment attempt. Though, the result sometimes ended up the same either way.

The moment they started trying to throw their weight around, they were summarily ejected - from the room, the building, the town or the coast generally depended on the offence, the number of bystanders involved and where they happened to be standing. This one had got it lucky; local legend had it that some of the worst offenders were still floating somewhere over the bay.

"And stay out, you damn poser." The dark-haired teen called after the human cannonball, leaning in the doorway of the shop with his arms crossed, levelling a glare which was more distaste than anger right through the man.

A few of the bystanders had seen the man go swanning into the shop - which was mistake number one, anyone could have told him; Chester's handyman didn't respond well to fops - and a couple of people inside had heard him start talking down to Chester (mistake number two - the teen seemed to hold Chester in high regard, and while none of the townspeople had ever been so much as touched, the looks they got whenever they muttered about the eccentric old man squashed the unflattering chatter just like the teen himself squashed everyone who got too mouthy).

Those same people had been in the process of leaving the store as quickly as possible, but still managed to hear the man offer the teen the 'privilege' of joining his group. Mistake number three - no one was quite sure what, or perhaps who, but all of Hargeon knew that Chester's handyman was waiting for something specific. That every attempt to persuade him onto another course met with abject failure and, depending on the asker, a fetching new set of bruises, made that obvious.

As the figure slumped in the street, the bystanders made sure to keep their distance - no need to get caught up in the mess if this one couldn't learn to keep his mouth shut.

* * *

 _Declan's POV_

It had been six months now that I'd been working with my magic, and I'd learned a lot through near-constant practice and pre-existing knowledge - along with my own imagination, of course.

In the beginning, I'd only been able to do simple things - increasing my own weight while I exercised for example, which had led to my progress from aesthetically fit to possessing a level of fitness I'd only ever attributed to anime characters before (ignoring the fact that, from some perspectives, I was one of those characters now - I needed to preserve what sanity I had left). As my control grew, I graduated to cutting off the gravity to areas, or specific objects. With more control over my abilities, I started reversing gravity, or forming entirely new gravitational fields.

Then I started learning how to multitask, and for one of the first times since I appeared in Earthland, I actually felt like I might have a chance to accomplish my goal.

My theoretical knowledge of magic was advancing at a slower pace, but it was advancing. I knew the primer materials from the library back to front now, and Buggy had been kind enough to let me read any books we got in for the Grocer - even going so far as to somehow produce several of the texts referenced in the primer materials, which I'd been sure would be secured in some ancient, miles-high wizarding tower in the middle of nowhere, possibly guarded by a dragon.

Buggy continued to surprise me, even after six months - but I didn't go looking for answers. I'd picked up on a few things just by being around him, and it didn't seem like he was actively trying to hide anything - but I owed him too much to pry into his affairs, even if I could muster the curiosity.

Still, even if he hadn't gone out of his way, I would still have been fine - we'd been getting in almost more products than we knew what to do with lately. All the new Mages travelling through Hargeon were causing a massive rise on our sales, since we had a monopoly on magical products in Hargeon - partially thanks to being the first (and still only) magical supplies store, and partially thanks to my 'reputation'.

I never thought I would see the day when people started visiting the Proper Grocer just so they could say they'd met/seen/talked with/bought from me, but somehow, it had come.

The ball started rolling maybe two months into my stay on Earthland, when Hargeon had been the target of a group of rogue Mages. At the time, I'd been out in the woods training, and had come across them in as bad a mood as I was capable of, having failed to perfect my new technique for the fifth day in a row - despite its seemingly simplistic nature.

Running into a group of posers who had talked down to me, then gone on about how they were going to raze the town to the ground, had not made my day any better.

It had been cathartic, however. Adrenaline and magical power flowing through me, various flashes of light around me, weapons brandished with the intent to maim and kill...

For the first time since Heather had died, I felt alive for a time. Even now, when I looked at the scar which ran at a diagonal across the back of my right arm, I could recall my thumping heartbeat.

Then they were all out cold, and I dragged their worthless carcasses down to the Military Police barracks before promptly walking into Matron Amelia's building and passing out on her nice, clean floor and getting blood all over it.

Someone must have reported who left the Mages, since the Captain of the local Military Police chapter tracked me down in the Ward (once Amelia had decided they could pass – not even the military messed with the White Mage, it seemed) and presented me with a commendation and an unofficial 'deputy' badge of sorts, giving me his blessing to use my magic in defence of the town without worrying about possible legal repercussions.

As it turned out, there was even a bounty on the leader's head. Only 50,000 Jewels, not exactly a fortune...but still, it would pay for another month or more in the Inn all on its own. A nice little addition to my monthly pay.

Life moved on, and I was rather surprised when another group showed up barely two weeks later, riding high on their newly-assigned bounties and looking for a reputation boost by taking down what they thought was some two-bit Hedge Mage being flaunted by the local populace to scare off bandits.

They made excellent test subjects for the technique I'd mostly finished developing by that point. They also made over 100,000 Jewels when their bounties were totalled, another visit to Amelia and some not-so-fetching additions to the Military Police's (or, as they preferred, the Guards') jail cells.

Unfortunately for me, if fortunately for the Grocer, they also lit the fuse for my reputation to take off – at home, and afar.

I can only suppose that the travellers passing through picked up on the way the local residents talked about their town's 'champion' (gack), because I soon discovered that people arriving in Hargeon already knew about me, despite my status still officially being Buggy's general fix-it handyman and portable battery.

Some eyed me like a piece of meat and tried in various ways to talk me into joining their Guilds or other organisations. Some challenged me – both people with bounties, and those who were legitimately good people. Just fight crazy.

Most disconcertingly of all however, for me at least, a few even offered honest thanks or praise for doing the right thing with my abilities.

It was ridiculous, in my opinion. In this world, magic was commonplace – Mages were everywhere, and there were far more powerful, far more skilled, far more well-known ones than I, some who even set out to fill the role I'd found myself inadvertently acting out. How did tossing a few overconfident mooks about the place translate to me becoming Hargeon's goddamn Talos?

I wasn't sure, but apparently I was doing something right (or wrong, in my opinion), as the frequency and skill level of my opponents had risen at a constant rate – and my reputation had grown right alongside it, as I rebuffed every attempt at recruitment (remaining polite, for the most part - after all, there was no reason to get angry at someone for asking. If they started to try the coercion route, though, they earned themselves a night in the cells to sleep off getting Punch Drunk), emerged victorious from any challenge, and managed to get out of the few occasions on which people tried to reward me.

I was just trying to get my training done and balance my work on top of it – I wasn't looking to become the town's Superman!

Unfortunately, that backfired too. While I had been trying not to appear as if I was doing the right thing for the sake of the money or other things people offered as rewards, I had apparently come off as 'humble' and, as one rather wordy individual put it, 'saintly'.

Saintly.

Heather would have laughed herself hoarse at that one.

Me? I was just horrified.

But I couldn't exactly throw a fight. Not only was every victory another learning experience, another test of my abilities that would have been rendered useless if I had deliberately held back, but my pride wouldn't allow me to admit defeat to some random guy who walked up to me and challenged me.

If I was fighting someone like, say, Erza Scarlet – someone whose strength and character I respected and who I acknowledged as the better person in any comparison with myself? I could admit defeat to someone like that.

To Joe Average, looking to make a quick buck, a name for himself or just get off on adrenaline using me? Not a chance in hell.

Plus, quite a few of them had been assholes looking for some self-gratification, or people who would have stirred up trouble and might have injured the Guards when they came to clear up the situation.

According to the Captain, one Roger Branston, he and his men were enjoying the peace and quiet. He'd even tried to talk me into accepting an official place with them, or at least taking a salary.

I'm still not sure how I got out of that one.

Then, this asshole came strolling into the Perfect Grocer, and when he sees me, his first words are, "So you're Hargeon's Planetary Anchor?"

'Planetary Anchor'? I mean, sure, there was the gravity thing, and sure, this was a port town...but 'Planetary Anchor'? What the Hell kind of nickname was that?! I didn't even know I had a nickname!

Shaking my head, and deciding to go ask Buggy when people had started calling me that, I continued. "You're as much Fairy Tail's Salamander as I'm its goddamn Guild Master. Now clear off, before I decide to do something you'll regret."

The man glared at me, although there was an obvious glint of fear in his eyes, before he began running down the street, shouting that it wasn't over.

I just rolled my eyes. The last five guys I'd handed over to the Guards had said the same thing. Now, they were rotting in prison somewhere, and I was on course for the next part of my plan. After all, that pitiful excuse for a con artist was Bora - and with his arrival, I was finally getting somewhere.

"Umm...excuse me?"

I blinked, turning from where I'd watched the poor excuse for a Mage run away - and found myself looking directly at a figure I'd been awaiting for six months straight.

Lucy Heartfilia was just as beautiful as the manga had portrayed her to be, perhaps even more so without the changes brought about by the story's art style. Hair like spun gold and large brown eyes, dressed in her trademark white blouse with blue cross and blue skirt, she looked every inch the adventuring princess. At least, in my mind.

And she was, of course, proportioned like no woman I'd ever seen on Earth.

It was...way harder than I'd expected to look her in the eyes. And not because of the obvious reason, either – she was triggering my Uncanny Valley senses. On Earth, people this good looking just...flat out didn't exist.

Some people would probably disagree with me. Well, I wasn't 'some people' – I was an eighteen (I had been seventeen when I arrived here - I barely even noticed March going by, thinking back to it now) year old man who had just met a woman who made statues of the Roman Goddesses look like a primary schooler's clay sculpture.

The fact that I didn't immediately turn fire-hydrant red was due to self-control I'd been exerting since years earlier, when puberty hit me like a goddamn hurricane and I'd needed to hold onto something or risk getting swept away.

Lucy looked a bit uncertain, probably something to do with the fact that my neck muscles were twitching with my urge to look away from her face and check that everyone else still looked the same, so I offered her an easily fabricated smile and stuffed my hands in my pockets instead of having them crossed. "Yes, miss? Can I help you with something?"

My voice, at least, was entirely welcoming. Buggy had started trusting me to man the storefront after two months on the job, and I'd quickly developed my 'the customer is always right' tone under his expert tutelage. It worked too, as evidenced by the slight tension in the blonde's muscles relaxing.

"I hope so. This is a magic store, right?"

I nodded my confirmation. "Well, to be exact, this is Hargeon's only magic store." I thumbed the shop behind me, beckoning her in. "Well, come on in. If you're worried about what happened to that prick, don't be. That treatment is reserved for entitled morons and people with sticky fingers."

Lucy followed me inside, looking around as I did the same, appreciating the sight just as much as I always did - proud in the knowledge that the Grocer represented a job well done. Very well done, really - compared to when I'd first started working here, the place was almost unrecognisable.

For one thing, the shop floor was nearly twice as large as it had been this time six months ago - we'd bought the building directly next to us and, with a bit of work, the bottom floors became one open space which we promptly began to fill with things.

Most things were still displayed using the tall shelves Buggy had installed when I first came to work for him, though there quite a few more now - every stretch of wall that wasn't taken up with a window, the door or the counter hosted one of the shelves, though they didn't exclusively hold the vases and other container that had been so prevalent when I arrived.

There were whole shelves of books now, not just the volumes displayed behind glass which were once the store's entire stock - books which ranged from in-depth technical scripts on magic, to thinner volumes dealing with things like basic spells for appearance and household chores. There were also biographies and autobiographies, maps, history books and everything in between to be found on those shelves - though we still wouldn't be challenging the library any time soon.

While we still had the vases and other things on some shelves, they were now joined by more easily identifiable materials - labelled woods in bundles of sticks or as jars of bark or shavings, metal bars, jars of various stones and magically-significant gemstones, little baskets or bundles of various herbs alongside pouches of seeds for magical plants. The sheer variety of magical reagents and materials to be found in the Grocer could cater to just about any style of Magic and any level of Mage, even if we'd had to set up another eighteen shelves in three two-deep rows along the centre of the shop to make sure we fit everything.

Below the windows and on the spaces above bookshelves (much easier to access when I could just walk up the walls and along the ceiling) objects hung, or were displayed on hooks or pedestals, while several barrels had been scattered about. Things like swords of various qualities and materials, arranged according to pricing and placed in barrels, as well as a few guns, a wider collection of polearms and spears and a couple of hammers arrayed around the upper edges of the room, provided self-defense options not just for Mages, but for ordinary people too.

The pedestals were largely used for magical devices - small, hand-held things which could perform spells even for non-magicals. Things like the ColorS, self-tying ties, magical rings, decks of cards and the crystal ball that Buggy had apparently been trying to sell for nearly a decade now.

There were even things hanging from the ceiling still - dried plants, animal skins, bolts of fabric and that same lamp that still hung above Buggy's counter.

The store's aesthetic wasn't all that different - the whole space had been fitted with the same wood-plank flooring as the original shop, while the floor plan remained obviously full but not cluttered or claustrophobic.

The Proper Grocer couldn't be mistaken for the equivalent of a thrift store anymore - now, it was a shop truly capable of providing Hargeon in its entirety with its magical supplies.

"Wow..." Lucy muttered to herself. "So this is what a magic store looks like..."

I shook my head. "Not most of them. In fact, the Grocer used to be a lot less impressive - it took a lot of work and a lot of time to get it looking this good." A smug, satisfied feeling surfaced for a moment, tugging at the corner of my lips before fading. "At this point, I'm proud to say you'll probably not find a better store outside of central Magnolia."

"Cool..." The blonde breathed, looking around the large numbers of magical items with a look of wonder.

I felt a tiny smile grow at seeing the light in her eyes; such an enthusiasm for magic was something I'd noticed most people, even Mages, tended to lack - something which I felt was...fundamentally _wrong_ in some way.

"So," I clapped my hands together, moving behind the counter to face her. Buggy was on one of his days off, meaning I had the place to myself - so, I put on my best 'Shop Owner' persona. "What can I get for you miss?"

"Ah!" Lucy started, breaking off her examination of the shop to move up to the counter, flushing a bit at having gotten distracted. "I was wondering, do you happen to have any Celestial Spirit Keys? I'm a Celestial Spirit Mage, you see..."

She produced her keyring as she happily relayed her title, smiling at the tools which opened the gates between the human world and the spirit world.

"Celestial Spirit Mage, eh?" I asked, idly stroking my chin before snapping my fingers. "Ah, yes! I believe we have one around here somewhere. If you'll excuse me for a moment..."

It did actually take me a minute to retrieve the Key of the Canis Minor. I'd found it buried amid several other random items during one of my sortings of the stock room, and then put it aside in its own place where it likely wouldn't be moved for a while.

I then, in the last six months, forgot where exactly that was. Still, I did find it, and I brought it back to the counter and laid it there, bringing my customer's attention back from where it had returned to the spread of magical paraphernalia that the Grocer boasted.

Upon seeing the Key, Lucy's eyes lit up immediately. Seeing how excited she became at the prospect of adding another Spirit to her party almost reminded me of a child; if Pokémon existed in this world, I had no doubt she would have been one of the people camping outside the stores on release dates.

So, when I told her it would cost 20,000 Jewels, I found myself nearly laughing at how fast her sparkling eyes plummeted with her jaw into a look of abyssal horror. Which was rather impressive, since my track record for displays of happiness in the last six months boiled down to some sadistic cackles as I 'dealt' with challengers.

I probably shouldn't count those.

My mirth, however, promptly turned to mild panic when I saw a smirk begin to pull at the corners of her mouth, and remembered her attempt at bargaining with Buggy in the manga. I was not willing to match my willpower against that, so I put on my best poker face and raised a hand before she could even start to move. "Miss," I told her firmly, "please don't."

She looked thoroughly pole-axed that I'd seemingly anticipated her, turning bright red in the process - though, whether it was from embarrassment or anger I wasn't sure. I sighed – to her it might have looked like disappointment or exasperation, to me it was relief – and decided to clarify something. "Tell me. Do you actually need the discount to afford the key, or are you just a miser?"

She flinched rather dramatically at the second option, but after a moment she raised a less-than-full pouch up to eye level. "I'm heading to Magnolia," she told me, "and I'd like to catch the train...but the next one isn't until tomorrow, so I need a meal and board too, and I won't be able to afford those if I pay the full twenty thousand." She sighed. "I guess I can just walk..."

I raised an eyebrow. That wasn't, in my opinion, her trying to guilt me into giving her the discount anyway. It was simply her thinking aloud as she decided that the prospect of contracting another spirit was more important to her than her comfort.

Considering how I knew she treated her spirits, I had to admire her for that.

Plus, this could be useful.

"How about this, as an alternative?" I asked, getting her attention. "I'll sell it to you for 15,000 Jewels, if in exchange you meet me for lunch at the restaurant down the street. Does that work for you?"

Lucy frowned at that, obviously a bit wary. "So...pay you back with a date, is that it?"

She seemed surprised when I shook my head. "No, not really. I've been in Hargeon for six months now, and I didn't exactly get around before that." _'Certainly not this world, anyway.'_ "So, I'd like to hear stories about the places you've passed through on your way here – if you don't mind sharing your experiences, that is."

The Heartfilia frowned, looking me up and down quickly, assessing me. "Alright," she finally conceded. "That seems fine to me."

"Great!" I enthused, clapping my hands together and flashing my shop owner's smile once more. "I'll see you in about...three hours? If I might make a recommendation, Hargeon has several good sightseeing spots you might look around for until then."

She thanked me for the advice, then paid for the Key and left. I kept working, selling several more products to a mixed bag of residents and passing Mages, at the same time thanking whatever deity happened to be watching that, much like how she didn't know enough about Fairy Tail to recognise the Salamander on sight, she hadn't heard of me yet. Or, at least, she didn't know enough to identify me.

Meeting someone who I could just be a normal person to was...nice.

* * *

When lunch time came around, I found Lucy in the restaurant as promised...but as I had hoped would be the case, she wasn't alone.

A young man with pink hair sat across a table from her. He was dressed in red travelling robes over a black and gold vest which seemed to come part-and-parcel with a skirt-like wrap of fabric belted around his waist in a style I similar to Archer from Fate/Stay Night, baggy white knee-length trousers, black sandals and a white, oddly scaly scarf.

Natsu Dragneel was just as voracious an eater as the manga had made him out to be, and beside him, the blue flying cat called Happy was devouring a fish with equal zeal, while Lucy looked on in mild horror. Whether it was at their table manners or at the bill she was going to end up paying, I wasn't entirely sure.

She looked up when I walked in, and I espied a glint of relief in her eyes. "Ah...!" She began to call out, before furrowing her brow. I knew what was bothering her – she hadn't actually gotten my name earlier, nor had she given hers.

As I took a seat next to her, I extended a hand through habit. "I believe the name you're looking for is Declan Ross, miss."

Smiling weakly, she shook the proffered hand with a reply of, "Lucy."

Glancing over the table, I noted that Natsu had apparently not registered my arrival. "So, who's your friend Lucy?"

One fair eyebrow twitched. _'Apparently she doesn't ascribe to the 'what's yours is mine' philosophy of friendship. At least, not when her wallet's involved.'_

"His name's Natsu, the cat's called Happy. They got me out of a bit of a bind earlier while I was wandering around, so I figured paying for their meal was the least I could do..."

I'd somewhat expected that. Odds were, the people who saw me toss Bora out of the Proper Grocer wouldn't have cared enough to spread the event, so he'd still be able to pull his con among the young women of the town.

Discontent swirled in the back of my mind. I might not have wanted to become Hargeon's protector, but it was what had happened – I didn't want the place getting wrecked like it did in the manga.

The Captain would probably kill me if he had to fill out that much paperwork.

"What kind of a bind?" I asked, flagging down a waitress and placing my order while at the same time making a quiet request, which she acknowledged with a knowing look between Lucy and I.

I let her make her assumptions. Much as I had once done in Heather's company, I didn't particularly care what she thought - though, these days I was just apathetic rather than safely ensconced in friendship. Lucy wasn't even really a friend to me yet, nor was I to her - it was enough that we knew that.

"That guy you threw out of your store earlier had a Charm spell." She told me, looking pissed as she folded her arms. "I actually fell for it, too – if Natsu hadn't come in and distracted him, I might not have snapped out of it."

"I see..." I muttered, before tapping Lucy on the arm when she made to rise. "Have you eaten yet, Lucy?"

From the growl which emanated from her midsection, as if one cue, I assumed she had not.

She flushed bright red, and I felt my lips twitch. "Alright then. Since you've already shelled out for your knight in shining armour here, I'll cover your lunch and mine." The blonde started, and made to protest, but I waved her off. "Sorry, but you're a customer of mine, and that means I gotta look out for you – at least to some degree."

That was almost complete BS, but it was the best excuse I had. Truth was, my main motivation behind it were two simple facts. I had money to burn, and Lucy was female.

That was it.

Renting a room and board from the Inn didn't take a great deal of my pay, which had been growing steadily right alongside the Grocer for the past several months. I had a not-inconsiderable sum saved up, so paying for two meals was nothing really.

Which was why I was also paying for Natsu and Happy's meal, although I wasn't telling Lucy that in case she got the wrong idea.

As for the second fact...it was simple enough really. My best friend was a girl, most of my friends growing up were girls, I took after my mother in most things, and my father had raised me the old-fashioned way – including the vital lesson that a man's role is to look after women.

A lot of people on Earth would disagree with that, quite a few of them women themselves...but it was the way I was, and I wasn't going to change.

Heather had found it exasperating, but seemed to enjoy being treated nicely anyway. Acting this way reminded me of her and the good times...and that was more than enough reason for me.

"...Thank you." She said finally, quiet and still flushed, as I shrugged. I flagged the waitress down once more, receiving another knowing look when Lucy ordered and I told her to add it onto my order.

People. Always making assumptions...

Natsu and Happy finally stopped eating before Lucy and I's meals arrived, seeming to finally notice that I was now sitting there. For a few seconds, Natsu's black eyes bored into me...and maybe it was just some of the excess excitement from finally being able to begin my plan, but I had to hold in a shiver as I held his gaze.

Still, the sensation was gone in only a few moments, vanishing as a grin which spread across his face. "Hey there!" He greeted me, extending a hand over the table. "My name's Natsu – you're a friend of Lucy's?"

I took the hand, glancing over at Lucy as if for permission, which she seemed to gave with a little smile and a nod. I turned back to Natsu, nodding in turn. "Seems so. I'm Declan. It's good to meet you, Natsu – I hear you helped her out of a sticky situation?"

The handshake was just about what I expected; excitable, but without being crushing. It suited Natsu well, as did the grin on his face. The young man – just how old was he? I knew that Lucy was a few months younger than me at the moment, Gray was a few months to a year older, and Erza had at least a year on top of _that_...so he was probably about eighteen. Not really a teen any-more, in any case – shrugged once he'd released my hand.

"Well I don't know about that. I heard Salamander was in this town, so I decided to stop by." He scowled. "That guy was nothing but a fake, though."

I nodded, taking a drink from the vaguely fruity concoction which I'd ordered. It was about the closest thing to juice I'd been able to find that wasn't alcoholic, and had quickly become a staple drink of mine.

The meal was, as might have been expected of a Scotsman in a port town, fish and chips. Though admittedly, the chips hadn't existed until I managed to describe them to the chef. I just thanked God that potatoes were a thing in Earthland.

I had not been willing to give up my fish and chips. Hell, maybe if I was lucky, the idea would spread.

"I could have told you that," I replied to Natsu. "Poser came right into the Proper Grocer earlier, talking a big game...but I tossed him out on his ear and he just ran off." I shrugged, much as he had done. "Didn't think he was much to speak of – but a Charm spell? That's illegal, if I'm remembering right."

Beside me, Lucy nodded. "Yeah. They were being abused way too much, and without any real benefits being gained from using them, almost the whole set of spells were made forbidden magic. The only ones still legal to use are the ones which only work on animals, since those are helpful on farms."

I drummed my fingers on the table, humming. "I think I heard he was having a party on that boat of his tonight... a lot of the girls from town seemed like they were going to go, but if he's using a Charm spell..."

Lucy and Natsu both turned serious at that thought, the blonde clenching her fist. "That bastard...what's he trying to pull?!"

I finished up my meal quickly; Lucy had apparently been really hungry, since she had finished already. Appetite sated, I stood up and offered a hand to Lucy. "Can't say I know for sure, but it can't be anything good. I'm thinking this needs to be sorted out now – care to come with me?"

The blonde eyed my hand for a moment before taking it, rising as Natsu did likewise. "Sure." She paused, eyeing me cautiously. "But, Declan...what can you and Natsu do? I've got my Keys, but..."

I actually felt the urge to snort at that. It was a surprising level of excitement for me – genuine smiles, and laughter in particular, were a rarity these days - but meeting Lucy seemed to be drawing more of both out of me in just a few minutes of interaction than most of my other acquaintances had managed in six months.

My state of mind was brighter than it had been in months, just being around these two. I was sure, now – my plan was the best possible way for me to understand how Heather had felt, the best way to hold her memory close.

I felt a smirk rise in me and plaster itself across my features, the same thing happening to Natsu across the table, the teen cracking his knuckles as we headed for the door. "Lucy, my friend," I told her as I began rolling my shoulders, "watch and learn."

* * *

Neither of them noticed that I left behind the Jewels needed for our meals.

And none of us noticed the glint in that waitress' eye as we left, Natsu and I flanking Lucy as we moved with a purpose.

I'd come to regret that, later... But for the moment, I had two goals in mind. Beat the ever-loving Hell out of Bora for being the slave-trading bastard that he was...

And then find my way into Fairy Tail, the heart and soul of Magnolia, so I could find peace again.

* * *

Bora and his crew hadn't yet set sail when we reached the dock, and indeed likely wouldn't have for hours seeing as the party was scheduled for the evening and none of the girls had turned up yet, but the moment he locked eyes on us, he yelled for his men to form up and took a confrontational stance...

From behind the rows of his gang.

My eyebrow twitched. _'Coward.'_ And an idiot, too – he knew my damn nickname; had he not looked into my abilities?

Meat shields weren't gonna save him.

"You again, huh?!" He called out, voice sounding ever-so-slightly tremulous as he pointed a finger at us. "Did you decide to take me up on my offer, Anchor?!"

My eyebrow twitched again. _'I have a goddamn name... Besides, I didn't even choose that nickname ! It's way too weird!'_

"Nope," I told him simply, cracking my fingers like a pianist before a sonata. "I decided that you and your buddies here were spoiling the town's ambiance." I began pacing forward, pulling my arms across my chest and tugging to loosen my shoulders. "Do you have any idea how long it took to air the smell of 'fake' out of the Grocer? Way too long."

I wasn't even kidding; his cologne was horrible.

The men began shrinking back, whispering among themselves as I advanced. _'I guess this reputation thing is actually kinda handy sometimes.'_

I came to a halt, spinning side-on so I was aiming down my right arm at the men who were currently strung in a perpendicular line along the pier, blocking progress along it. It was almost like bowling.

"So, I'm gonna do you a favour...and give you a bath."

Bora's eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to shout...but I took a breath, at the same time envisioning a waterfall crashing through my head, into my chest and along into my arm, before calling out my attack in proud anime tradition.

 **"Shinra Tensei."**

Just about the most basic move in my arsenal, and a rip-off at that...but by God was it effective. Magical power rushed through me like a torrent, spinning to life above my palm as a purple-black Magic Circle before exploding outward, overwriting the gravity everywhere the wave passed and sending everything it touched hurtling away - though I kept the power relatively low to avoid tearing up the pier. I'd only done that once, but it had caused no end of problems, and neither I nor the dock workers were in any hurry for a repeat.

Still, even giving it considerably less than my all, the men on the pier - save Bora himself who rocketed into the sky on a pillar of purple flames - were sent hurtling through the air like bullets, finding themselves travelling even further than ought to have been possible since I'd taken the time to find their personal ties to Earthland's gravity and all but sever them, reducing their weight a great deal.

They wouldn't quite leave the bay, but it'd be Hell getting back to shore.

They got lucky, really. If there'd been a solid surface behind them, that attack would have pulverised their bones like glass.

Bora himself remained hovering in the air, shivering slightly at the sight of his entire crew being taken out at once, and not really paying enough attention to us.

I just shrugged, put my hands in my pockets, and began moving back toward a grinning Natsu and an open-mouthed Lucy. I managed a self-satisfied twitch of the lips as I approached, patting the pink-haired Dragon Slayer on the shoulder as I went by. "Tag in. I'm bored."

Natsu grinned even wider. "Sure!" He looked back up at Bora, as if he was calculating how he was going to reach him, and my grin widened.

"Hey, Natsu?" He turned to me, a questioning look on his face. "You wanna get up there?"

The grin that came back this time was about twice as large.

* * *

The face Bora made when I threw Natsu at him, the Dragon Slayer soaring like a guided missile with a flaming fist outstretched, would stay with me for the rest of my days. I built a _shrine_ to that face in my memory, as the first time I ever witnessed the mix of abject disbelief, gibbering terror, and an emotion which could only be described as 'Oh Shit' which characterised the culmination of a Fairy Tail battle.

It wouldn't be the last...but it would always, in my mind, be the best.

* * *

I heard the crack of Bora's nose breaking from the dock, where I was standing by Lucy and shading my eyes as I looked up.

I kept a weather eye on Natsu himself, keeping his gravity low but high enough not to blow away in a breeze, guiding him down to the dock where he touched down with a massive grin...before promptly running to the side of the pier and losing his lunch.

 _'Ah. I forgot about the whole motion-sickness thing. I guess high-velocity air travel would kinda do it.'_

I didn't bother catching Bora.

As the blue-haired man was sitting in his own personal crater, obviously unconscious, Natsu got himself back under control and ran over to us, seemingly none the worse for wear. "That was awesome!" He told me as he reached us, before shifting a bit in place. "Just...I think we'll need to practice that if we're going to do it again."

I raised an eyebrow. "Was that an invitation...Salamander?"

Natsu's grin widened, even as the already shocked Lucy suddenly started looking back and forth between us like she was watching a tennis match. "Wait...Salamander?! You mean Natsu is-!"

Chuckling, the pink-haired man rolled up his sleeve, displaying the pink Fairy Tail guild mark on his shoulder.

"Natsu Dragneel, of Fairy Tail." I told her. "Also known in some circles as Salamander."

Lucy just stared for a long moment, before suddenly turning to me. "And you, Declan...are you from a Guild too? And what kind of Magic was that?"

"I'm actually unaffiliated," I replied, then glanced at Natsu. "Though that might change soon. As for my Magic, well..." I began walking over to the ship where it was still in the dock. "I wonder, can you guess?" I glanced over my shoulder, offering Lucy a challenging smirk. "Here, let me show you again."

Pressing my hand against the wood before me, I spread out my...well, seventh sense is probably the best term for it; seeing as how I have the usual five, as well as my talent for sensing magic - a talent which only grew sharper as my control over my abilities increased. One way or another, I let magical power flow into surface, feeling how gravity worked in the area around it. The connections between electrons, between protons, between atoms, between molecules, individual planks, the ship and Earthland itself...gravity had a hold on _everything_ , from the largest structure to the smallest building block.

And I had a hold on gravity.

The tie between the ship and Earthland, what I liked to visualise as a heavy-duty chain, snapped as my magical power flowed into a rotating circle around my wrist.

I didn't design the circle, or try to manifest it – I wasn't sure how or why, but the shapes formed themselves with no attention, like a by-product more than anything else. My Magic Circle shaded from an indigo-purple at the outer edge to purely black at the centre, with the central focus being a pitch-black circle while surrounding it were borders of criss-crossing lines, each one with a singular sphere on its track.

I didn't understand what it entailed – but I got the imagery, at least. A Black Hole – the ultimate expression of gravity in the universe – at the centre of orbiting planets. Not exactly subtle, but oh well.

As the circle appeared, I increased the gravitational force around my palm and the bottom of my fingers, effectively suckering the surface to my hand, as the only force now acting on the ship was the one pulling to my palm.

The end result was that, when I swung my hand up over my head...I took the ship with it.

A quick reversal of the gravity in a cylindrical area above our heads prevented the seawater from reaching us, instead holding it hovering in place as the field caused it to decelerate, then go back the way it had come until I balanced the forces acting on it, trapping it in a thin layer over our heads, almost like being in a tunnel at an aquarium.

Lucy and Natsu both stared at me, as I held an entire ship above my head with one hand, the other still in my pocket, while water shifted and flowed above us like it rested on a pane of glass.

Lucy, as the more educated of the two, was the first to answer. "...Gravity," she whispered. "You're using Gravity Magic."

My smirk transitioned into a satisfied smile, small but no less genuine for it, before I placed the ship back in the water and allowed Earthland to take a hold of it once more, dusting off my hand as its gravitational pull returned to normal and then pocketing the appendage once more. "Top of the class, Lucy."

I could have sworn there were stars in Natsu's eyes, and as I walked by they changed to a burning flame that was, in all likelihood, actually there. "I'm getting all fired up just thinking about sparring with you," he told me, grinning like a madman. "Whaddya say? Wanna come join the guild? It'll be great!" Natsu paused for a moment. "Plus, Gramps'd probably be glad to meet someone who doesn't break stuff when they're fighting...he's been getting kinda scary about that lately..." The Dragon Slayer shivered dramatically, and my eyebrow twitched.

Ah yes, the well-documented tendency of Fairy Tail Mages to cause abject ruin wherever they went. I could only wonder how many insurance companies had gone bankrupt, or how many people had lost homes or livelihoods in their battles.

Maybe that was something I could see about trying to change...

I shrugged, affecting nonchalance but with an excited pull at the edges of my lips, though I felt like the muscles in my face were tiring from being pulled in largely unused directions today. A bit pathetic considering just how little exercise that actually was, but I was just _not_ used to smiling these days. "Well, I've been in Hargeon for a while now...I suppose it's time to move on. Can you hang around for the night? I'll need to talk with some people before I go."

Natsu's burning grin seemed to soften slightly at that. "Go ahead. Friends are important, I'm not gonna try and drag you away from them."

I nodded my appreciation, and turned to head back into town. As I passed Lucy, however, I nudged her with my shoulder, breaking her stare away from where it had fixated itself on the ship. "You know," I told her, "it seems to me like there are only so many reasons for a Mage to head into Magnolia, especially one who seemed to be looking for the Salamander."

She looked up at me, and I looked in Natsu's direction. "Go on ahead and ask. I'll see you when we head out in the morning."

And with those parting words, and a pat on the shoulder, I headed off towards the Proper Grocer's - snagging Bora from his crater on the way.

It was only two in the afternoon after all, and my lunch break was just about over - I'd be just in time to sling the slaver in the Guards' cells so they could eat their lunches in front of him.

I might not get very emotional any-more, but I could still appreciate some well-deserved schadenfreude.

* * *

I made the rounds of the people I'd come to know in Hargeon after I locked up that night.

I went to Captain Branston first, letting him know that I'd be heading off to Magnolia to join a Guild, and I tried to return the badge he'd given me.

The ageing veteran just gave me a crooked grin and shook his head, rubbing the back of his head through his salt-and-pepper hair. "You've done a whole lot of good for this town, lad." He told me. "Hargeon's never been a big place, and it's never had a town hero before. People around here are proud to say that they were helped by, bought from, met or even just lived near you, these days." He closed my fingers around the metal shield, pushing it back to my chest. "Keep it. Wear it, if you want. I'll have a word with the boys in Magnolia for you."

He laughed aloud, barrel chest moving in and out like a blacksmith's bellows. "Who knows? Maybe one day, you'll get so famous the boys and I can make a mint selling stories about you to the papers!"

My eyebrow twitched. My early adjustment period had been full of mishaps involving magical objects and conveniences, not to mention some interesting situations which came around as a result of my training.

That was a lot of blackmail material, and the man seemed to know it, judging by the glint in his eye.

"Go on out there and find your way, Declan." Were his parting words to me. "This town was too small for you anyway...there's a world waiting for a man like you.

"Make us proud, kid."

* * *

Amelia, who I'd stayed in contact with (between visits to the infirmary - I owed her a debt of gratitude for keeping the various other healers and patients in check when I was around, although I couldn't help but feel that getting a plaque, engraved with my name, attached to the headboard of the bed she had first given me when I arrived in Earthland was a bit much), sniffed at me and turned slightly away to hide what I suspect was a grin. "I should have known you'd be running off with hooligans at some point, with all the times you ended up back here."

My fifth eyebrow twitch of the day. I really had spent far more time in this hospital than I was comfortable with...

"Ah well..." She sighed. "I suppose all birds leave the nest in the end. You've been good to the people around here, and you've kept a lot of them out of my beds. Thanks for that, and good luck.

"Go do some good for some other people, Declan. Don't let us down."

* * *

My last stop was with Buggy, who was waiting for me at the Inn where I usually stayed with a sad smile and a pint of ale. He knew I didn't drink, but that didn't stop him from doing it, and he raised his glass along with the rest of the room's patrons as I walked in. "To Declan!" He proclaimed. "The best damn handyman that ever passed through Hargeon!"

The room echoed his reply, and I felt my eyebrow twitch once again.

Honestly, what was it with me and befriending all these people who could get a rise out of me...

As the drinks flowed, I sat with the old man for a while and we talked over some of the times we'd had together. It had been...peaceful, in many ways, to work at the Grocer. I'd had work to fill in the empty hours I might have spent moping or brooding, and I'd had conversation whenever I wanted it...and sometimes when I thought I didn't.

He laughed at his memories of my experiences with new products, some of them brand-new and largely untested, much to my displeasure. He cheerfully passed around pictures he'd somehow managed to get of me with one foot in a bucket of a magically-based super-glue I'd been using to fix a shelf, Cleansweep having moved it into position when I wasn't looking, mischievous bastard that he was.

Chasing a broom around with a bucket on my foot still ranked pretty highly on my list of 'weird things that killed a bit more of my sanity'.

We spent hours sitting there and talking, Buggy drinking his ale and me with my fruity whatever-it-was. I just called it 'the usual', and people seemed to know what I meant.

Idly, I wondered just how that worked, considering I shifted restaurants quite often to avoid drawing too much business away from any other places, seeing as a crowd tended to gather wherever I ate.

"Declan," Buggy finally told me, when his last ale was empty like most of the Inn's common area, and I was ready to turn in. "These past six months, you've changed a lot for the better here. The folks stand taller, there are a few Mages settling down, the Guard haven't been run ragged driving off brigands who think we're easy pickings just because there were no magic users on call...and I don't even have to mention the Grocer!

"I know you don't think you've done much, or that the way people have reacted to what you've done seems like too much to you...but you're a hero to Hargeon, Declan, and a good man besides. It's been my privilege to have known you and to have been of some kind of help to you. So please, listen to this one request of mine.

"Live a bit, once in a while. I've seen you, you know. You barely ever go out, and when you do you just eat, turn down every attempt at conversation, and run away as soon as you can. You only read the magic texts, history, law, or the other books you could kill a man with if you swung it at him. You spend all the rest of your time up on the cliff, practising your magic.

"I know the look of a man who's chasing something so hard he's forgotten to live. I've seen a lot of them passing through here, on their way to one place or another, searching for an answer to the question which consumed their lives.

"You don't deserve that kind of life, Declan. So please, if you really want to pay back that debt you think you owe me, do this for me.

"Find something about yourself you can be proud of, and never let it go. I believe you can be great, one day...so please don't squander yourself carelessly, alright?"

With that, he stood up and left the Inn, heading back to his apartment over the Grocer with an oddly steady gait for a man who'd consumed his own body weight in alcohol over the course of the night.

I managed a tiny smile at the thought of what he was trying to do for me. It was kind of him, to try and get me to look after myself...

But I couldn't. Not until I had my answer. Not until I could rest easy again, and get back to my life.

"Sorry, old man." I muttered to myself and the empty room. "But I think I'll have to leave that debt outstanding, for a while."

* * *

The next morning I came downstairs from my home of six months, my camping-size rucksack over both shoulders. It contained the changes of clothes I'd amassed over time, in the Fiore style rather than the outfit I'd worn when I arrived, which I was currently dressed in as my favoured travelling attire.

As I walked through the streets, people waved to me, or smiled, or occasionally called out thanks and well-wishes. And when I reached the edge of town, where Natsu and Lucy were waiting, I found the Guards standing there, a stern-looking Captain Branston taking a step back from a bright red and stammering Lucy, while Natsu looked to be laughing his ass off.

I raised an eyebrow as I approached, particularly as Lucy was apparently unable to meet my eyes, and Natsu just laughed harder when he saw me. As I joined the two, Captain Branston raised his hand, and the various men and women of the platoon lined up on either side of the road, drawing their swords and creating an archway of blades.

I recognised the gesture, and a pleasant warmth started flickering in my chest, drawing a melancholy grin from my features. This was the same salute they'd given Old Jeremy, who had retired from the Guard after thirty years of service three months into my stay. It was a farewell, and a message that even if they didn't have the job title any-more, a Guardsman or Guardswoman would always have a way back in their blade.

As we walked through the corridor, I tried to meet everyone's eyes and nod, all of them returning the gesture with grins and smiles.

When we reached the end, I turned, seeing Captain Branston with his own sword in the air at the end of the archways, grinning like a maniac. "Guardsman Ross, your duty is fulfilled. May your days from now on be long and merry, while we hold the line in memory of your work."

"Guardsman Ross!" The Guards shouted, clashing their swords together in the final salute, before sheathing the blades and turning around, marching back into the town and leaving just the Captain to stand and wink at me.

"Give 'em Hell, Declan. That's an order!"

And with that, he turned too, disappearing back into the streets.

I stood for a moment, watching him go, until I turned back to find Lucy and Natsu waiting for me, the former finally seeming to get over whatever Branston had said to her. I walked up to them with a nod, and Natsu started leading the way.

I glanced at Lucy, who was walking beside me, and asked, "So, what did the Captain say that had you so flustered?"

Immediately, the blonde started repeating her little fit, spluttering and waving her hands about, before Natsu burst into laughter.

"He told her that if she broke your heart, there wasn't a place on Heaven or Earthland where she'd be able to hide from him. And to send him a letter whenever you had a date planned, so he could send pictures and stories!"

I kept walking for a moment, Lucy having promptly turned redder than a tomato and completely lost the ability to even articulate grunts or gibberish, and my eyebrow twitched hard enough to pull that entire side of my face with it.

Captain Branston had given Lucy the 'overprotective Dad' talk.

I remembered Buggy's talk from the night before, and connected it to the waitress in the restaurant who'd been making assumptions I decided I didn't care about.

Then I looked at Natsu's face and I knew, just _knew_ , that the entire Fairy Tail Guild would know this story within minutes of me being introduced to them.

My entire body shuddered with the force of the sigh I heaved, and I damn near knocked myself over with a facepalm.

"...God dammit."


	3. II - Settling

Being on the road with Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia was, in a word, an _experience_.

The latter was still barely able to talk to me. Whatever speech Branston had given her, she seemed to have found herself balancing on some precipice between acting like I was some kind of fragile stained glass ornament which could shatter if someone looked at it funny, or flushing red as a tomato and not meeting my eyes, shaking her head a lot and cupping her cheeks.

It was...tiring, after a while. Particularly since Natsu, although a good guy at heart, didn't make the best conversationalist.

Probably because half the time he was running off chasing random things he'd seen off the path, generally resulting in a massive burst of flame that had Lucy and I running after him. Twice, I'd been forced to rapidly invert and amplify the gravity in an area in order to lift areas of burning woodland into the sky. Once, in a state of panic, Lucy had opened the Gate of Aquarius.

She'd been pissed.

We'd been soaked.

Natsu had just laughed.

Still, I admitted that it _was_ handy travelling with a Fire Dragon Slayer, seeing as we never wanted for a campfire, and he'd somehow got drying clothes down to an art form.

Though Lucy did punch him out the first time he breathed fire all over us, apparently overcoming her mortification long enough to yell her fury until she was satisfied.

I wasn't sure if I should be amused, or terrified of that force ever turning on me.

It took two days of walking to reach Magnolia, which was pretty good as far as I was concerned. Lucy seemed a touch worse for wear, but as we moved through the bustling city, she seemed to reclaim her energy, probably since we were growing closer and closer to Fairy Tail.

Magnolia itself was quite the change from Hargeon. The buildings all went up at least three storeys, sometimes going as high as four or five. The unpredictable colours still existed, more for the roofing than for the buildings' walls, but there was more colour to be found since trees, grass and other plants could be found scattered seemingly everywhere between buildings. There was one main road, running right through the centre of the city, which had both the Kardia Cathedral and the Fairy Tail Guild Hall on it, placed at either end, and most of the other roads in the city split off from it or met it.

Three rivers entered Magnolia from the North, coming down from the mountains and across the plains before reaching the city. They were chanelled through the city in large canals, bridged several times, which divided the city into three sections - though, without exploring, I couldn't say if there was any division beyond just the physical. One way or another, they all combined at the Eastern-most point of the city, before running off into what I was fairly sure was an ocean-fed lake rather than the ocean itself.

Unfortunately, the maps I'd gotten my hands on weren't particularly useful - apparently, Magnolia was three train stops away from the nearest significant body of water, but the massive body of water stretching away behind the city rather put paid to that.

Maybe Fiore was just really, _really_ big and that was why that lake wasn't considered large enough to put on the map...?

Oh, well - it didn't matter all that much. Not when only part of the city currenty held our attention.

There was a sense of anticipation around all of us as we got cloesr. Natsu and Happy had relaxed completely, and were seemingly placing bets with one another on what would have happened in their time away, or what they would see when they opened the door.

Lucy was about to start her first steps into the world of Guilds, and what I knew was a long and winding path for her.

And I was drawing ever closer to the place where I hoped to find my answer. Ever closer to Fairy Tail, and the people who had managed to soothe Heather's passing like no medicine ever could.

* * *

Fairy Tail didn't disappoint.

It was built somewhat like a Pagoda, with three tiers that grew progressively smaller on the way up. The entire building was painted a yellowy cream, with each sloping awning done in red tiles. The building was crowned with a golden bulb like might be seen on a plant, though massively oversized; hanging from the front of the building on the third floor were three banners, one in green, one in blue and one bearing the Fairy Tail emblem, emblazoned in white on an orange background.

The second floor had odd, kite-shaped windows framed in green, along with three more traditional peaked windows, while the windows on the bottom floor were pentagonal wooden panels, and the door itself was wooden, done in the shape of a leaf.

The bottom-most awning was held up with green pillars, which also supported the wooden sign above the door, with carved creatures spreading to either side of it and a shape like a heart atop it.

Emlazoned in dark blue on the wood, was 'Fairy Tail'.

The building was also rather incredibly large, compared to most of the others nearby. A complex unto itself, as it backed directly onto the edge of the city and, from there down to the lake, had more than enough space for themselves. It almost reminded me of one of the Clan Districts from Naruto.

Of course, whatever comparisons might have been made with the Uchiha or Hyuuga clans immediately went out the window when Natsu threw the door open, yelling "I'm back!" before immediately going up to a guy who looked like Lupin III's brother and kicking him in the head, prompting absolute bedlam.

The floor itself was rather like a lunch hall, being constructed from almost entirely wood with a parquet floor and a mezzanine held up by wooden pillars set around the room, which seemed to mark the cut-off point to give the main room a border. There were several long benches and miscellaneous tables around the room, as well as a few scattered chairs, which made the place look somewhere between Hogwarts' Great Hall and a restaurant.

I knew there was also the bar at the other end of the room from where we had entered, but...well, I couldn't really see it through the _chaos_ Natsu had wrought.

The manga...had in no way been capable of expressing the true chaos of a Fairy Tail brawl. There were bodies _everywhere_ , some unmoving and groaning, others flying through the air and screaming, some standing tall and proud.

Elfman, built like a brick outhouse in his navy blue martial arts getup, dark-skinned and white-haired, stood atop a table, shouting something unintelligible, until a thrown stool carried him into the seething mass below. Cana, barely dressed in a bikini top and cut-off trousers with her dark hair spilling down her back, drained an entire barrel of alcohol, then broke the empty barrel over someone's head. Gray, messy dark hair matching his eyes was...holding someone in a headlock, wearing naught but his underwear and a stylised metal cross on a necklace.

And those were only the ones I recognised. There were a large number of people here, and I came to a sudden realisation that the unnamed, barely-drawn figures in the Fairy Tail manga weren't just panel decoration here. They were real people, with magic of their own, families, histories and dreams.

This...wasn't just a story any more. This was reality.

 _My_ reality.

While I was busy having a minor philosophical epiphany, Lucy was looking around with her jaw wide open, trying to process everything that was going on in front of her and failing miserably. I noticed that Loke wasn't anywhere to be seen, so I supposed that the disguised Celestial Spirit had already made his attempt to chat up the blonde.

Tapping her on the shoulder managed to get her brain working again, and I dragged her by the elbow toward the bar area, where I could see two familiar figures. One pint-sized and male, the other young and obviously female, with a figure to rival Lucy's own...though, despite their contrasts, both figures had similar hair colours.

Makarov Dreyer, and Mirajane Strauss. Fairy Tail's Guild Master, one of the Ten Wizard Saints - and the user of the Satan Soul, one of Fairy Tail's aces in a time gone by but still no pushover, respectively.

But for now, they were a drunk little old man in an orange and blue jester's outfit, and another unearthly beautiful bartender in a red dress, watching the chaos with a fond smile.

 _'The disconnect between her expression and what she's watching is...rather jarring,'_ I noted as we approached.

"Oh? Who's this then? Natsu brought home some new faces, I see."

Makarov Dreyer was an _incredibly_ short man. Even sitting on the bar, his head was only level with my chest. But I didn't let that distract from a very simple fact.

This was Fairy Tail's Guild Master. The answer I was looking for started and, in some ways, ended with him.

If he chose not to accept me into the Guild, then I didn't have a backup plan. That would be that, simple as.

I bowed my head to him, tugging slightly on Lucy's arm as I did so. She looked across to see me inclining my head, and followed suit automatically. I could _feel_ Makarov raising an eyebrow. "Now there's something I've not seen in a long time – young people with manners. Now raise your heads; there's no real need to make an effort for an old man like me."

I straightened, Lucy following suit, although she sent me a questioning look. To answer her unspoken question, I addressed the man over the clamour of the room. "Am I right in saying you're Makarov Dreyer, the Guild Master here?"

Brown eyes widened beside me as Makarov nodded amiably. "That would be me, yes. And who might you be young one?"

I very carefully suppressed the urge to let my eyebrow twitch. This man was _old_ – he deserved the right to call anyone he wanted 'young'. Even if it _did_ chafe at my pride a bit. "My name is Declan Ross," I told him. "And this is a friend of mine, Lucy."

Taking that as her cue, Lucy bobbed her head again. "It's nice to meet you, sir."

The Guild Master smiled a bit at that, inclining his head to both of us. "Ah, and it's nice to have such a polite greeting for once. Now, how can I help you both?"

I glanced sideways at Lucy, tilting my head toward Makarov and taking a small step back, pushing her forwards as I did so. Her eyes widened, and she looked about ready to try and use me as a shield, but I put a hand on her shoulder before she could do more than begin to panic. "This is your goal, remember?" I asked her quietly, or as quietly as I could in the tumult. "You've come this far – you can take this next step too."

Lucy met my eyes, looking at me for several seconds, before she turned to the Guild Master and took a deep breath.

"Guild Master Makarov," she began formally, "it's been a wish of mine for quite some time to join your Guild. I was hoping you could tell me what I'd need to do for that to happen."

She inclined her head again, and I smiled to myself. Perfectly earnest – that seemed to describe Lucy quite a lot of the time. She tended to wear her heart on her sleeve and speak her mind – much like the majority of Fairy Tail's members, really.

It was...admirable.

Makarov stroked his moustache for a moment, as if he was making some weighty decision, and I almost smirked. It seemed the old man really was a troll when he wanted to be. "Well, miss," he began just as formally, "if you want to know, I suppose I can tell you." He stood up – not that it really did much for his height – and Lucy came to attention. "In order to become a member of Fairy Tail," he intoned, "you must-!"

With a flurry of moving hands, he produced a wooden box and what looked like a carved stamp in the shape of the Guild's emblem. "Have this placed somewhere on your body where it can be made easily visible."

Lucy stumbled as if she was about to fall over, and seemed just about ready to smack Makarov one just as she had done to Natsu – but she thought better of it, and instead moved over to where Mirajane was beckoning, box and stamp in hand, to help her apply it.

The old man's eyes moved over to me, and I stiffened instinctively. Being in front of him reminded me of being in front of my father; even if he wasn't exercising it, and even if I could see how so many people overlooked it, Makarov had an air of authority around him. "And you, Declan Ross?" He asked. "What can I do for you?"

In a blatant show of hypocrisy considering what I'd said to Lucy, I hesitated.

It was simple enough, just do the same thing I'd pushed Lucy to do and ask him if I could become part of the Guild.

But...I knew what I'd be getting myself into. The enemies I would face as part of Fairy Tail were far above the mooks I'd repelled on an almost weekly basis in Hargeon. Plus, there was my knowledge of what was to come. Did that give me a responsibility of some kind? If something went wrong that I could have prevented, was that my fault?

And in between all of that, I had to somehow find my answer. For the sake of my mind and my soul, I had to understand.

I _had_ to.

So I pulled up as much of my courage as I could muster, and bowed my head once again. "Do you happen to have another one of those stamps, Guild Master?"

* * *

Lucy and I sat down on an unbroken bench at the side of the hall, each of us contemplating our new emblems. The blonde, as she had done in the manga, had it printed on the back of her left hand in pink. I'd had mine placed on the outside of my right arm in a navy blue, where it was visible if I was wearing a t-shirt or pulled up my sleeves.

This was the first step on my path. A marker that told me there was no backing down, and no re-do. I'd made my bed and set my course – now, it was time to lie in it.

The brawl was winding down now, and Natsu staggered out of it like a drunk, only to pause as his eyes lit upon Lucy and I. "Lucy! Declan!" He called out, moving over to us having apparently recovered in seconds. "You guys joined then?"

The blonde nodded with a massive smile, and I nodded, feeling my own relief at my success pull my lips upward as we each revealed the icon which cemented us as members of the guild.

"Awesome!" Natsu grinned, before turning to me and cracking his knuckles. "Now we can have that spar!"

...Oh yeah, I _had_ told him that I'd spar with him once I joined the Guild, hadn't I?

...Dammit. And me thinking about how I had to accept the consequences of my actions too.

"Sure, Natsu." I replied, standing up and gesturing for him to lead the way. "Let's just go somewhere where we aren't gonna be interrupted."

The Dragon Slayer nodded, running off as I jogged in pursuit, Lucy apparently choosing to follow on behind us. Perhaps due to not knowing anyone else...or perhaps because she'd just caught sight of Gray searching for his underpants. I wasn't sure.

* * *

Natsu led Lucy and I down to the coastline, just by the edge of the sand, before spontaneously combusting. If I ever had evidence that I'd adjusted to this world – perhaps a bit too well, even – it was probably that I didn't even blink when it happened.

My sanity had probably rage quit his job and gone off to get drunk with my self-worth somewhere, and suspension of disbelief had taken over. Hah - my brain was being run by a SOD.

...Perhaps my loss of sanity was a greater issue than I'd realised.

 _'I'm about to get into a fight with Natsu Dragneel. Sanity dropped out of my dictionary_ long _ago.'_

I blew out a deep breath, shaking out my hands before crouching slightly, keeping my knees bent for an instantaneous burst of motion.

Throughout all the fights I'd been in since appearing in Earthland, I had built what might be generously termed a 'style' for myself. With the ability to alter my own gravity, I essentially had an instinctive understanding of how things could fall - myself in particular. With that ability to shift my own weight about, I'd never be at anything less than perfect balance unless I wanted to be - and as a result, most of my approach to combat revolved around throws and grapples, though I had picked up a reasonable right hook in the past few weeks.

Feeding magical power through my body, reducing my own weight in preparation for kick off, I felt my heartbeat pick up as adrenaline kicked in. "Alright then, Natsu – let's see what you've got!"

All too happy to take the invitation, the Dragon Slayer kicked off, hurtling towards me at speeds most Olympians would have paid their own weight in sponsorship deals to match. Flames streamed out behind him as he moved, his body a flaming comet, and as he approached I concentrated on my arms, which I dropped down to press against the ground with a low mutter. **"Bespoke Arms."**

Or, more specifically, I focussed on their gravitational field.

 _'Start at the skin, and form a paper-thin but maximum strength inverted field. Move outward two inches, then maximise omnidirectional pull. Finally, form a field of attraction in the ground below, and-!'_

Dirt, rocks, plants and nearby sand all rose into the air as one, caught in a sudden gravity well which pulled them together and then dragged the mass to my arms, where my limbs' gravity compressed it into two inches of impromptu body armour encasing each limb below the elbow.

At the same time, I kept reducing my own connection to Earthland's gravity, keeping my weight stable at a point where I was actually lighter on my feet than I had been before I strapped several kilograms' worth of the environment to my arms.

This was the basis of the magic I'd been practising – augmenting my own physical abilities using gravity in various ways. Was it the most effective, most efficient way of using it? Not really. Did it leave the possibility of me being injured, or running into an opponent with superior close range abilities? Yes.

But it worked well with my current limitations – namely, strength and area of effect.

I could only affect gravity in so wide an area. Maybe I could get a decent-sized building off the ground, but that was about it. No lifting cities or other things like that for me. That tied into my other current handicap, namely that I could only amplify the power of gravity so much. I could flatten a lot of things, but it was still entirely possible that I would find something with enough sheer physical power or durability to weather my best.

It boiled down to the fact that, for all the things I'd learned to do with it, and for all the starting boost I'd gotten, my magic was only six months old. It was growing steadily, but my supply was still limited, and my experience in Amelia's hospital made me leery of getting so close to empty once again.

I'd also discovered that the gravity under my control interacted oddly with Mages. The second group which came to Hargeon I'd flattened immediately, but I'd been rather shocked to find that their leader's magic had spiked, and gravity restored itself to normal in an area around him, which actually shook me enough to make me drop the technique.

It led me to one conclusion. A Mage can overpower magic acting on them, if their own power is greater than or equal to that of their opponent. That meant that, for all intents and purposes, any attack involving direct manipulation of a target's gravity had to be powerful enough to make breaking out impossible, or quick enough to prevent it from being disabled.

Hence, Shinra Tensei, and me not even trying to hold Natsu down or disconnect his connection to Earthland – he was a Dragon Slayer after all, and I wasn't going to take the bet that I had more magical power than he did.

So instead, I my weight reduced enough to stay on the ground but still move quicker, while my mass remained constant, I went to meet him mid-way.

Meeting him fist-for-fist was _painful_ , even through the various silicates and other materials protecting my flesh. I could feel the heat, and the impact actually sent me spinning around in the other direction thanks to my adjusted weight.

Well, I could work with that.

Spinning a full three hundred and sixty degrees on my heel, I turned the momentum imparted from his strike into a spinning backhand, one which Natsu managed to block with his right forearm, supported by his left. Stepping back, I brought my fists up in front of me, throwing three quick jabs - each of which the Dragon Slayer blocked on his forearms, not even seeming to flinch at the impacts. Then, he started retaliating, and most of my brain shut off as I tried to keep up with the flurry of punches he was dishing out.

Lightening myself even more, I pushed myself out of the way of his strikes with just the lightest taps of my feet, barely exerting myself beyond the effort necessary to predict where his punch would land, yet still only keeping just ahead of his blurring fists. When I wasn't fast enough any more, I leaned back until I was at ninety degrees to avoid a flaming haymaker passing through where my head used to be, then snapped out a kick to Natsu's midsection, anchoring my other foot to the ground.

It was like kicking a goddamn brick wall, but it staggered him back nonetheless. I stopped anchoring myself and used the remains of the kick's recoil to hop backwards a few steps, getting myself some distance.

So far, I'd established that he was more durable than me, and was likely both faster and stronger. My gravity manipulation evened the field somewhat by armouring my frame and quickening my movements, but at the same time I could only add so much bulk to my arms before moving became too awkward to make it worth it, and I could only lighten myself so much before I'd start floating off the ground if I kicked too hard, making me a sitting duck.

I had developed the ability to fly as one of the first things I worked towards mastering, but it still wasn't good for much more than going in straight lines - if I was going to try and carry out strafing runs, I needed considerably more manoeuvrability than I currently possessed.

Apparently recovered, the Dragon Slayer charged me once again, grinning like a maniac and wreathed all in flames. I kept up my dodging, thankful that my minimal movements allowed me to conserve energy, and decided I needed to try and take this up a notch. So, when Natsu came in with another rush, I knocked aside a jab from his right arm, dropping low and continuing my spin with a sweeping kick to take his legs out from under him, then rose to my feet as he was falling, levelling my stone-clad fist at him.

" **Shinra Tensei.** "

This time, instead of directing the attack in a single direction, I allowed it to grow in a sphere of repulsive force. Natsu was crushed into the ground like a boulder had fallen on him, while I flew up and back a couple of feet, managing to pull myself into a backflip and land a couple of metres away.

No sooner had I done so than Natsu was up again, grinning even wider now and punching his fists together with a burst of flame. " _I'm all fired up!_ " He yelled, and I flinched at the catchphrase.

He seemed to get even faster when he came for me this time, and I had to start blocking or redirecting hits rather than just getting out of the way. With every impact I could feel my bones rattling, and I started hopping into the air, removing the resistance which came with holding my ground and taking some of the edge off his attacks.

I was able to fend him off for half a minute, but I could feel my arms heating up with each new strike, the dangerous warmth of crackling flames reddening my face - and when I failed to move his fist aside in a parry, the blow to my torso lifted me straight off my feet and halfway back toward the Guild before I was back under control.

I had to up my own gravity, digging twin furrows in the dirt with my heels, before I came to rest, lightening myself again and glaring at the Dragon Slayer, feeling the bruise already spreading across my chest. So far, he'd shrugged off everything I hit him with, while I couldn't take his hits worth a damn. And he was _still_ grinning.

Bugger this for a lark, I wasn't going to be a goddamn punching bag!

Narrowing my eyes, I let out a deep breath - then, I moved the material around my arms and hands forward, until it hung in the air in front of my hands. There, it formed into two floating orbs, held together by the points of gravity serving as their cores.

I wound up, then threw the sphere in my right hand, following it up with the one in my left a moment later. Despite my usually rather abysmal throwing skill, my magic corrected the course as the spheres left my hands, sending both of them - effectively stone basketballs - hurtling toward Natsu.

The Dragon Slayer got out of their way quickly enough, keeping his attention on me as I ran forward, following in the path of the projectiles and with my eyes locked on Natsu - but as I drew closer, I made a swiping motion with my left hand, latching once more onto the magical power still keeping the spheres together. **"Bansho Ten'in!"**

The projectiles stopped, shuddered, then reversed direction - with just as much speed as they had when I threw them, both spheres returned to me by the quickest path.

Namely, through the space currently occupied by Natsu Dragneel.

The Dragon Slayer squawked as both of the stone spheres crashed into his upper back, sending him stumbling forward - he'd been leaning forward in expectation of my charge, leaving his balance off-centre. By that point I was almost to him, and I could imagine his thought process, based on what I'd seen him do in the manga. True to form, he turned his fall into a handstand, placing his hands on the ground and raising his legs to ignite them in preparation for a breakdance-spinning-kick -

Just in time for me to grab his legs as they came up, when he was still just doing a handstand, turn in place, spinning Natsu as I did so, then manually drag my centre of gravity upward and forward as I heaved forward, giving me the extra heft I needed to swing the Dragon Slayer over my shoulder and into the ground.

I heard the breath leave his lungs and saw the dust the impact raised, and I made to skip backwards out of range of retaliation.

Too late, as it turned out.

Natsu's ankles clamped down around one of mine and he rolled over, sending me to the ground in turn - even though my impact was much lighter than his, with my weight reduced. Still, he was back on his feet just as quickly as I was, and I found myself in close quarters with Natsu Dragneel, and with no way to get away quickly - I'd pushed myself to my feet as quickly as possible, and with my weight reduced, I was still coming down to the ground.

 _'Well...shit.'_

 **"Fire Dragon's..."**

 _'...Double shit.'_

 **"Iron Fist!"**

Natsu's fist, burning brightly, crashed forward - right into my torso, where it expended what felt like all the force of a rocket lifting off.

By the time I realised I was even flying, my focus was too shot to maintain my weight reduction, and I ended up skipping over the ground several times before expending the rest of my momentum by digging a furrow for several metres, eventually coming to a stop.

I lay still for several seconds, breathing fast and heavily, feeling the burn in my chest - and on it, too. Then, the pain caught up with me, and I brought my left arm up to lay across where I'd been hit. "Fucking _Hell,_ that hurt..."

Still clutching my chest with one hand, I used the other to push myself into a sitting position - there, I was met with Natsu's grinning face as he offered me a hand up. I took it, the Dragon Slayer pulling me up to my feet easily, still grinning as he clapped me on the shoulder. "Good fight, Declan!"

I rubbed my chest a couple of times, blowing out a breath that turned into a small coughing fit before I got myself back under control. "Thanks, Natsu - but I've got a long way to go."

 _'I didn't push him at all - I didn't even make him break a_ sweat _. Sure, I might have left him with a couple of bruises, but that's all; even when I outmanoeuvred him, I couldn't get in a good enough hit to make it mean anything.'_

I sighed, but Natsu, still grinning, drew my attention with another clap on the shoulder. "Well, I guess we'll have to do this again. The only way to get stronger is to keep on fighting until you overcome everything in your way - so, we'll fight together, and we'll fight each other, and we'll just keep growing stronger and stronger!"

I stared at the Dragon Slayer for a moment, the teen still grinning like a maniac, with a kind of wonderment. _'That's an incredible conviction he's got in his voice...I think I can see how he got strong enough to be one of Fairy Tail's best Mages even as a teenager.'_

I blew out another breath, then nodded. "I'll hold you to that, Natsu."

The Dragon Slayer laughed, then reached behind him to rub his back. "Gotcha - but if you keep coming up with tricks like that one, you're gonna be really strong in no time!"

A smile pulled at the corners of my lips, and I inclined my head for a moment, before taking a moment to glance around, the pain in my chest beginning to recede. Seeing Lucy, still sitting on a log where she'd perched myself while Natsu and I were facing off, I called over to her. "Hey, Lucy! Do you want a go?"

The blonde looked at me, then at the grinning Natsu, and then at the multiple furrows and craters we'd formed with missed attacks or poor landings - in particular the rather long furrow which served as evidence of my landing. Then her gaze fell back to me, and she laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her head. "Maybe later? I still need to find an apartment somewhere, and I want to have lunch too, so…"

Nodding, and feeling a smirk distract me from my new bruises, I was joined by Natsu and then started heading back to the Guild Hall, offering the Celestial Spirit Mage a hand up as I passed. "Alright then. In that case, let's go eat…they've probably finished putting the place back together by now."

* * *

I'll admit, I flinched a bit when Romeo Conbolt punched Makarov in the face. It was a testament to his character that, despite the respect he'd most definitely earned, the old man wasn't above letting the child take out his anger on him.

Still, the memory of Fairy Law almost had me shivering – let alone his Titan Magic.

"Hey, Declan!"

I turned to find that Natsu was approaching, Happy sitting on his shoulder. Lucy was following along behind him, and waved when I nodded to her.

Now, _this_ was interesting. In the manga, Lucy had needed to go chasing after Natsu to join him. Was this change brought about because of her asking Natsu to bring me along? Was it Natsu's idea? Was it, perhaps, something to do with how much less...overblown, they seemed in person, as compared to their reactions in the manga? I wasn't entirely sure, but one way or another, they were here.

Turning to face the Dragon Slayer, I quirked an eyebrow in question. I'd been reading a book I retrieved from Fairy Tail's library, which Mirajane had been kind enough to loan me, which dealt with various exercises for increasing magical power. Right now, raw horsepower was something I lacked, especially compared to Dragon Slayers like Natsu, Gajeel and, technically, Laxus; fixing that weakness could only be good for me.

"Lucy and I are headed to Mt Hakobe to find Macao." Natsu told me, his features and voice more serious than I'd yet seen him. "Do you wanna come with us?"

I glanced between Natsu and Lucy, seeming to think for a moment before closing my book. "Sure. Let's just ask Mirajane if the Guild has any coats around the place first, okay?"

"Coats?" Lucy asked, and I nodded.

"Yup. Mt Hakobe's got the whole 'permanent winter' thing going on. Natsu'd be fine, but we'd probably freeze to death before we found the guy."

Lucy frowned, then turned to Natsu. "And you didn't tell me this because…?"

The Dragon Slayer blinked a few times, then laughed sheepishly. "Sorry. Since I never get cold, I completely forgot!"

The blonde's eyebrow twitched dangerously. Interesting – that was the first time I'd seen that expression on someone else. Still, she calmed herself, before casting her eyes around in search of the Take Over Magic user in question. "I hope she's at least got something cute I can wear..."

* * *

She didn't.

As it happened, Lucy was currently bundled up in an ankle-length, inch-thick coat which was half some kind of wool and half some kind of leather, and _all_ old. She didn't seem best pleased, but she was able to walk about without freezing, so that had to count for something.

I'd already bought a coat while I was in Hargeon. It was largely wish fulfilment, but I'd found what was effectively a leather duster, if one made from a somewhat unfamiliar animal, and I'd immediately shelled out the required Jewels. I'd probably read the Dresden Files once too often, but dammit, if I was gonna be a Mage I was gonna have a leather coat!

I'd slung that on over my cargo trousers, knives included, as well as a simple t-shirt of Earthland make and two jumpers, one of which was a hoodie.

I quite liked the way the coat looked with the added hood – kind of an Assassin's Creed theme. Unfortunately, I appeared to have pulled a Lucy, and sacrificed some of my own well-being in the name of aesthetics, as I was shivering while we tramped through the snow.

It was a good two hours into our journey when a magic signature thrummed into existence seemingly out of nowhere, animalistic and radiating what I thought _might_ have been Avarice.

Lust was my second guess, but I preferred not to think about that. That path led to the dark side of M-rated fanfiction and doujinshi, and while Fairy Tail had not been above fanservice (mostly centred around Lucy, intentionally on her part or not), I liked to try and not think about it. I didn't pay it much attention when I was reading, after all.

Instead, I focussed on immediately scanning the surrounding area, doing so just in time to see a massive, white ape-like creature come bounding out of the snow, going straight for Lucy, who had been shocked into temporary immobility.

Natsu immediately moved to engage it, but his choice of wearing sandals instead of boots like Lucy and I made his footing uncertain, and the Vulcan was able to send him flying before he could land a blow. The creature immediately turned to go for Lucy again, and might well have made off with her, if not my appearance in its path.

I pushed one hand forward, palm-up, and with the other I formed a fist above it in a handsign I'd stolen straight from Gray's Ice Make Magic. **"** **Gravity Hammer!** "

With that declaration, I brought my fist crashing down onto my open hand, at the same time pulling on as much of my magical power as I felt I was comfortable with holding for a single spell and directing it all into the area directly around the Vulcan, focussing on increasing the gravity there exponentially.

The Vulcan crashed into the ground like a piano had dropped on him, going spread-eagled and landing flat on its face. Simultaneously, all the snow in a circle around him compacted itself down to the level of the mountain's surface, going from powder to near-ice, reinforced by all the snow in the air around the Vulcan crashing down in an instant.

I only held the force for a moment, releasing my hold on the gravity before the creature's natural magic could cause any backlash by fighting mine. I still wasn't confident in matching my magical reserves against my opponents' – not even when it was a creature instead of a person.

I looked over to Lucy, who had unfrozen, and gestured to the creature which had barely begun to rise. "Hey, Lucy – I think this'll be a good chance for you to show off your stuff, don't you?"

The blonde looked at me askance for a moment, before her expression firmed and she nodded. Reaching into her coat, she produced a golden key, raising it into the air before bringing it slashing down with a cry of " **Open, Gate of the Golden Bull: Taurus!** "

There was a flash of golden light which forced me to close my eyes, which had adjusted to the cloud-covered, dreary twilight of the mountain, and when I turned back I let out a low whistle.

Taurus in person was considerably more impressive than the manga. He was _big_ , easily topping me by as much as two feet, and the labrys in his hands was almost as large as he was. His musculature was above and beyond anything Schwarzenegger had ever dreamed of boasting, and his magical signature compared to the Vulcan's was like putting Son Goku and a ten year old side-by-side.

 _'So, this is the power of one of the Zodiac Spirits...'_ He stood tall for a moment, like some kind of marble statue, before finally moving...and immediately reminding me why I hadn't been that impressed with him in the manga.

"Your boobs are as nice as ever, Lucy! No - moo-ore than ever!"

My eyebrow twitched, and I sank my face into the palm of one hand. _'What_ _is it about Lucy that seems to attract all the perverts...? Apart from the obvious, anyway.'_

When the blonde got her spirit back under control, it was in time for the somewhat bloodied, and likely aching, Vulcan to finish regaining its feet and start kicking up a racket, beating its chest and glaring bloody murder at the first available target. In this case, Taurus – who seemed to become more serious when faced with an opponent, his lecherous grin becoming more bestial.

He roared and charged, labrys ready to swing, while the Vulcan accelerated to meet him. The two massive combatants collided with enough force to blow away the snow in a small sphere around them, before the ape-like Vulcan started attempting to beat on Taurus, who responded by tanking it like a shonen protagonist post a two-year timeskip and then headbutting it in the middle of a flurry.

Something broke, and the creature yelled out its displeasure as it clutched its snout. Even as it did so, Taurus wound up, then lashed out with a bellow, catching the Vulcan in the side of the head with the flat of his labrys.

There was a sound like a gong ringing, and the creature's eyes rolled up in its head before it fell over backwards into the snow, out for the count.

Taurus huffed like the bull which he so clearly resembled, before accepting Lucy's thanks for his service with a thumbs up and a grin before dissipating into motes of golden light that blew away in the wind.

Once he was gone, I started clapping, which seemed to start the blonde. _'Did she forget I was here or something?'_ "Excellent work Lucy," I told her. "You make for one scary opponent."

A chuckle made its way free of Lucy's throat, and she beamed. "Thanks, Declan."

"Guys!" Natsu called, apparently back from wherever he'd gone flying before, Happy by his side. "I'm back!" He started looking around. "Hey, where'd the Vulcan go?" He ran through the snow towards us a ways, then abruptly fell flat on his face.

Jumping up and whirling around, his already befuddled expression became even more confused. "Wait, Macao?" He crouched down, and there was a moment's pause before he spoke again. "Hey, it looks like some bastard broke his nose!"

I flinched, and I noticed that Lucy did likewise. We caught one another's eye, and came to an unspoken agreement.

If anyone asked, the Vulcan did it.

* * *

Broken nose or not, Macao seemed glad to be back with the guild, and Romeo was definitely happy to have his father back. Watching the two of them walk out to spend some time together felt...gratifying. Sure, I wasn't necessary for this little mission...but at the same time, I had _helped_. I'd been a part of making someone else's life better.

Admittedly, I'd been doing the same thing in Hargeon...but for all that people thanked me, it was never really a personal thing. I defended the town, and therefore helped just about everyone...but I never really saw how that affected people directly.

I supposed this was something I needed to understand, if I was going to have my answer. If I was going to feel what Heather had felt...and find what it was about Fairy Tail in particular that could turn even the tears of the dying to laughter.

I was broken from my introspection by a tap on the shoulder, and I turned to find Lucy smiling at me. "I just realised," she told me, "that I didn't thank you for keeping that thing away from me up there."

I made to wave it off, but she just shook her head. "Nope, you're not getting out of this. You know, I realised after you and Natsu dealt with Bora that I forgot to pay for our meal?" I winced slightly as she continued, "So I went back to the restaurant, only to find that, apparently, you already paid for Natsu and Happy – as well as you and I."

She gave me a level stare, while I resisted the urge to rub the back of my head. "So, to make up for it, we're getting another meal – and _I'm_ paying this time."

I raised an eyebrow, and she seemed to understand the question, if the dusting of red in her cheeks was any indication. "Don't give me that look. I just don't like being in people's debt, that's all."

Well, that made sense. Lucy was quite fiscal-minded in the manga – this was probably just an example of that. "Well, I can understand that," I mused. "Alright then. Do you have somewhere in mind?"

The blonde shook her head. "Not really. I was thinking we could ask Mirajane."

Sensible idea – as Fairy Tail's resident barmaid and publicity figure, she likely knew the lay of the land around here. "Alright then, let's go."

* * *

Really, you'd think I'd have learned my lesson in Hargeon. But, no – Lucy and I just went straight to a woman I later remembered as having a tendency to gossip and try to play matchmaker, asking for places where we could get a decent meal.

Within earshot of Natsu, who I imagine developed a terrifying smile right about then.

I only realised the mistake we'd made when we walked into the Guild the next morning to a banner wishing the 'intendeds' the best of luck in the future, and Makarov greeting us cheerfully…before informing us that a Guild Master could perform wedding ceremonies.

Poor Lucy immediately broke down, her mind seeming to just shut off as she jerkily drew up a barstool and promptly buried her head in her crossed arms.

Me? I didn't get mad any more - but there was a distinction between revenge and justice.

Or, so I told myself anyway.

One way or another, I waited for an opportune moment, then struck - tripping Natsu with a subtle increase of the gravity around his foot between one step and the next, then making him considerably heavier as he fell...

Right onto Cana's booze, which shattered under the impact.

A moment later, the Dragon Slayer found himself on the receiving end of a royal beat-down from the alcoholic user of Card Magic, and I felt that I'd made a good start.

As I watched the ensuing chaos with a certain sense of accomplishment, I found Gray walking up to me, giving me an appraising look before presenting his hand. "Hey, we didn't really get a chance to meet yesterday. The name's Gray – Gray Fullbuster."

I took the hand, shaking it without compunction. Gray was a lot like Natsu – if ever so slightly more level-headed most of the time. I felt like he would probably make for a better conversationalist at least, even if he did have a tendency to anger easily in certain situations.

"I'm Declan Ross." Pausing, I considered for a moment, then continued, deciding not to waste a good opportunity. "Gray...Gray…hm, I think Natsu mentioned you a few times during the walk from Hargeon."

"Oh?" The Ice Magic user asked, his tone carrying an underlying hint of danger that I was glad wasn't pointed in my direction.

"Uh huh." I nodded. "Yeah, he definitely did. I'm guessing your magic is something to do with ice?" He nodded slowly, and I nodded once more, as if the last piece of a puzzle had slotted into place. "That explains it then – when I wondered why he kept saying you were 'slower than an iceberg'."

Ah – the second person I'd seen who could pull off the twitching eyebrow. Turning to where Cana was just wrapping up stomping the Dragon Slayer into the floorboards, he cracked his knuckles, the action combined with his lack of a shirt reminding me of a street fighter- _'Wait, wasn't he wearing his shirt a moment ago? And where the hell did his trousers go? I thought the spontaneously vanishing clothes thing was just because of the lack of transition panels in the manga!'_

While I was trying to figure out the Mage's apparently supernatural ability to undress, which seemed to surpass even Erza's Requip Magic, he said, "I'll get back to you in a bit, Declan – I gotta go freeze a wagging tongue."

While he advanced with a cry of 'Natsu, you bastard! What are you telling people about me you damn flame-brain?!', I made my way over to the bar, where Lucy was apparently muttering to herself about how she could never face the world again.

I once again resisted the urge to rub the back of my head. Okay, sure, the whole thing was kinda annoying...but did it really get to her that much? "Lucy?" I asked tentatively, and the blonde leapt almost a foot into the air from a sitting start, coming down facing me.

"A-ah...Declan?" She stuttered, still somewhat red in the face.

"Yeah..." I trailed off a bit awkwardly, stuffing my hands in my pockets. "You mentioned last night that you hadn't found an apartment yet, right?"

Though she groaned a bit at the reminder of the previous evening's meal (which I'd actually rather enjoyed – the food had basically been Italian, and the conversation had revolved around books, something in which we both had an interest), Lucy nodded.

"Me neither," I informed her. "So, I was thinking I'd head out today and try to find somewhere to live. If you need to find somewhere too, and if we're going to be working together in the future, then I think it'd make sense to do this together."

I shot careful glances through the surrounding area as we conversed, eyes open for any sign of Mirajane. I didn't want her getting any _more_ ideas.

The blonde seemed to understand why I was looking, since she promptly starting whirling her head around, but after she settled down she seemed to think it through. "That makes sense.." She muttered, nodding after a moment. "Alright then." Suddenly starting to flush again, she murmured, "You… _are_ talking about getting separate apartments, right?"

I couldn't help going a bit red in the face myself at that, but I nodded. "Yeah."

Lucy let out a sigh of relief, then stood up. "Alright then, let's go house hunting. I just hope there's something I can afford…"

Abruptly, my mind turned to Lucy's many minor breakdowns over money problems from the manga – largely due to Natsu's tendency to incur most of a mission's pay in collateral damage.

…Well, I was here now. Surely I'd be able to do _something_. How hard could it be to keep a building in one piece?

* * *

Finding a place to live wasn't as time consuming as I'd expected, considering the effort involved in doing so on Earth. In all likelihood though, the ease of the process was due to me already knowing more or less where the apartment Lucy had rented in the manga was located and leading us straight there via street signs.

While she was in negotiations with a woman who most decidedly did _not_ dress her age, I was having a similar time with the man who owned the building next door. He was probably the same age as Lucy's landlady, but the major difference was that he reminded me of Alan Sugar.

He was all business in a suit that probably could have cut glass, and there was _no_ nonsense about him. I ended up paying 75,000 Jewels a month for the place, more than I remembered Lucy having to pay, but at the same time I picked up some rather interesting information.

Strawberry Street was, apparently, the site of one massive shadow turf-war. 'Madame' Fiona, which I learned was the proper name for the landlady, had been butting heads with 'Sir' Potter, the man who owned my new apartment, for a good few decades now – and in the process, they had bought up most of the real estate in this street and the surroundings ones in a kind of real-life game of Monopoly. That being the case, they had turned it all into rented housing.

It seemed utterly ridiculous to me, but then I supposed it was just the kind of world I lived in now. One way or another, Lucy and I exited our respective buildings almost at the same time, each showing the other a key and a look of satisfaction. "I was expecting that to take a _lot_ longer," Lucy noted. "Plus that lady was pretty nice…" She shuddered. "Even if she _really_ needs to change her wardrobe."

Suppressing my own shivers, I nodded, then relayed the story of Strawberry Street to her as we returned to the Guild. Our possessions were being stored there for now - or, what we'd been carrying with us at least. As it turned out, Lucy really hadn't taken much with her when she left home - she had stored her clothes and miscellaneous personal items, both hygienic and sentimental, in the Celestial Spirit Realm through Horologium.

I only had my clothes and toiletries really, though I also carried a couple of gifts from Hargeon - one way or another, I'd fit it all in my backpack before leaving.

I'd need to go and buy some groceries, now that I had a place to stay. And towels. And sheets. And...well, everything an apartment needed.

Well, at least I didn't particularly have to worry about carrying things any more. Not when I could pick up entire trees with one finger.

We ended up wandering our way through Magnolia after picking up my rucksack and Lucy's satchel, eventually finding an Inn a fair distance from both Fairy Tail and Strawberry Street - the former because no one would ever insure a residence anywhere near our Guild, and the latter because Strawberry Street was a cornered market, and no one wanted to stick their nose in either of the owners' business.

The morning after we purchased our apartments, I met Lucy in the Inn's dining room and suggested that, since we had both just now purchased the apartments, we could go round the markets and get some necessities.

Like furniture, for example - so we didn't have to sleep in an Inn, despite owning apartments.

She agreed readily, but after I suggested we pool our finances - knowing as I did that Team Natsu weren't the most profitable of Fairy Tail's teams, and that Lucy herself had very little in the way of Jewels - we fell into a half-hour-long, excruciatingly polite argument. Lucy said it would be far too difficult to judge how much we owed one another; I didn't particularly care, seeing as so long as I had food to eat and a roof to sleep under I couldn't care less how many zeroes I had in my bank account.

Eventually, I won the argument through attrition - and, perhaps unfairly, by remarking that for someone who, at my last count, had barely enough Jewels to buy a night's rest at an Inn and a train ticket to Magnolia, she was very confident that she'd be able to furnish an entire apartment _and_ feed herself.

Thankfully she got over the remains of her huffy mood quickly enough, and the rest of the day, I followed behind her as Lucy dragged me through what must have been most of the markets in Magnolia.

Before this point, I'd been living out of one of Hargeon's Inns for the past six months (which probably explained why it had undergone almost as much growth as the Grocer, evolving into a full-on hotel over the period of my stay. It was like I had a green thumb - only, for businesses), and as such I hadn't really looked much into how household tasks and such were accomplished in Earthland.

It turned out that most of the gadgets and technological advances I was used to from Earth had counterparts of some description in Earthland. A box for toasting bread, a jug specifically for heating water, these were familiar. There were, however, some innovations I wouldn't have expected – such as a metal disc which could be placed at the bottom of a sink which would form a self-contained vortex, which effectively bade farewell to all effort involved in washing up.

And thank God for that, too. I didn't particularly enjoy cooking – but I _detested_ cleaning up afterwards even more.

There were also devices for cleaning and pressing clothes, which I realised I'd actually completely forgotten about.

The day had passed before I knew it, and we returned to our apartments with two massive sacks containing quite a few smaller sacks slung over my back, all reduced to the weight of an empty backpack, just to make sure they wouldn't go floating off into space if I lost my grip. I passed off one bag to Lucy, making sure that my magic remained attached to it, before moving into my own place and getting to work.

Food went into the kitchen cupboards, to-be-assembled furniture was arrayed where it would be put together later, and various other items ended up where they needed to go. An hour or so of bashed thumbs, quiet swearing, a _lot_ of nails, screws and tools later, I had a functional apartment.

When I went next door, I found Lucy in the middle of a mess which might once have been various individual pieces of furniture, but which now consisted of…well, a mess.

Rolling up my sleeves once more, I went about finding the instructions and helping her figure out where it had gone wrong, silently thankful for my own history with taking furniture apart and putting it back together again during moves.

It was late by the time I went to sleep, but I did so on a bed owned by me, in an apartment which I could call my own, with my own clothes in the wardrobe and my own food in the kitchen

Even if I _did_ forget to get undressed first.

* * *

I was awoken the next day by a shout from next door which jolted me awake and had me running for the door, having not bothered to get undressed the night before. I recalled Natsu and Happy's usual entry route, and adjusted my own gravity to let me run up the side of the building and fall in through the window, rolling to my feet in Lucy's living area in full expectation of a fight…

Instead, I found Natsu rubbing his cheek, Happy laughing himself silly, and Lucy standing in the middle of the room, breathing heavily and wearing just a towel.

All three of them turned at my sudden entrance, and I immediately locked eyes with Lucy. I think we both turned bright red at the same time, and I promptly turned on my heel, raising a hand and sticking the other in my pocket. "Well, I see I'm not needed here, so…"

I didn't get any further in my attempted retreat via the window, as what was in all likelihood Lucy's foot crashed into the back of my head, laying me out with a groan as I failed to reduce my own weight in time. "Should've…expected that…"

As the blonde stomped away into her bedroom, muttering to herself irritably, I clambered to my feet and rubbed the point where she'd impacted. Six months ago, a hit like that probably would have knocked me out. Hell, the hit Natsu had dealt me during our sparring match might well have killed me.

This wasn't six months ago.

All the training I'd done under the influence of increased gravity had done wonders for me, my muscles growing denser and more powerful until I actually felt sort of proud of my physique. At the same time, I'd learned that something about having magic apparently altered you on a physical level, as I was stronger, faster and more durable than even my increased workouts could have explained.

The end result being, I could be driven into a wooden floor by a flying kick, and all I had to show for it would be a bruise that would vanish in a day.

I _loved_ magic.

"So, what're you doing here Natsu?" I asked, moving over to sit in one of the four chairs around the table where he had situated himself (and apparently helped himself to some of Lucy's food).

The Dragon Slayer shrugged, apparently uncaring of the fading red mark on his cheek from where Lucy had kicked him. "Mira told me you guys had got new apartments," he told me. "So, I figured I'd come say high. Lucy's was the first one on the street, so…"

Well, that was…logical. "Right then. So, you just came looking to say hi?"

Lucy emerged from her bedroom about then, now dressed, as Natsu hummed. "Well, I also wanted to ask about Lucy's Celestial Spirits," he told me. "I remember seeing that water lady on the way here, and you told me that it was a bull guy who beat the Vulcan, right?"

Lucy and I twitched as one, nodding in perfect sync. ""Absolutely. We weren't involved at all.""

Apparently not finding anything remotely creepy or suspicious about our double act, the Dragon Slayer continued. "So, I wanted to learn more about them. Like, how many do you have, Lucy? What are they like?"

The Celestial Spirit Mage sighed, then got up and left the room. She returned quickly, bearing three cups of tea and her keyring. I stood and relieved her of two cups, handing one to Natsu and taking my own back to the table, where Lucy sat to my left and Natsu's right, with Happy standing on the seat opposite her. Six keys were promptly placed on the table, three silver and three gold.

"These are the keys of the six Celestial Spirits I currently have contracts with," she informed us. "Horologium, the Clock Spirit. Crux, the Southern Cross Spirit. And Lyra, the Lyre Spirit." She tapped each of the silver keys in turn. "These guys' contracts pass along quite often since their keys are silver, so you can sometimes buy them in shops."

Her tapping moved to the golden keys. "Taurus, the Bull Spirit. Aquarius, the Water Spirit. And Cancer, the Crab Spirit. All three of them are Zodiac Spirits, meaning their abilities are pretty far beyond what silver key spirits can accomplish. As a result, finding them is rare, even with the fairly low number of Celestial Spirit Mages out there."

Natsu nodded thoughtfully, wiping his mouth subtly – Happy had been openly salivating ever since 'Crab' was mentioned.

"Lucy, what about that key you bought from me the other day?" I prompted, and she blinked a couple of times before snapping her fingers.

"Right! I can show you guys how Spirits and Mages make a contract." Producing the Key of the Canis Minor, she pointed it in front of her, clearing her throat. "I, who am the road through which a Spirit might enter the world of Man, do hereby summon thee, owner of this key, to enter into a contract. Pass through the gate, and appear before me! **Open, Gate of the Canis Minor! Nikola!** "

Golden light had begun emanating from the key as Lucy had started her recitation, and it had formed a glowing keyhole in the air around the time of 'pass through the gate'. With her final cry, it expanded rapidly, a wind kicking up in the apartment before the light coalesced into a small, pale figure with a nose like a carrot.

It was a lot of buildup for a Spirit which I knew had absolutely no combat potential, and was effectively a glorified, sentient plushy...but I wasn't going to say that out loud.

Besides, the little bugger _was_ kinda cute.

Lucy certainly thought so, as she cuddled the little guy happily. Natsu and Happy glanced at one another, then turned back to her. ""Don't worry, there's always next time.""

"It didn't fail!" Lucy declared angrily, holding the Celestial Spirit closer. I made a point of staying quiet, instead choosing to crouch down beside Lucy and get a closer look at the little snowman look-alike, who looked back at me with a little smile.

...Scratch 'kinda' cute. Dammit, now _I_ wanted one.

I took a few steps back as Lucy placed Nikola on the ground and stepped back as well, then I chose to return to my seat as she ran through days of the week. Nikola nodded or shook his head for those days on which he could or could not be summoned, and Lucy made notes in a little notebook. It really _was_ rather mundane, but then I supposed not even magic could make business interesting.

"I know it might seem really normal for something magical," she spoke up, both Natsu and Happy nodding emphatically while I coughed into my hand. "But this contract is important, because it signifies the promise made between the Celestial Spirit and the Celestial Spirit Mage. The Spirits take promises really seriously..." She idly clenched one fist, hugging the little Spirit closer. "So as a Celestial Spirit Mage, I'll never go back on my word."

I nodded approvingly at that, Natsu grinning in agreement with the sentiment. Lucy herself turned back to the Canis Minor Spirit, humming in thought for a moment. "I think...I'm going to call you Plue." The blonde told the little figure, who seemed pleased with the name.

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't its name Nikola, though?"

Lucy nodded. "Kinda. Every Spirit has a so-called 'True Name' that is usually used to call them, but it's not unheard of for a contractor to address them by a pet name."

While Natsu took that in, Plue carefully wiggled around, prompting Lucy to put him down again...where he immediately launched into a series of gestures and small 'plue' noises that I couldn't make heads or tails of.

Natsu, on the other hand, developed a thoughtful look as the Spirit moved, occasionally humming and nodding his head as if he was listening to some kind of well-reasoned argument.

Lucy and I just watched, neither of us entirely sure what to make of the image, until Plue seemingly finished conveying his message, and Natsu stood up with his hands on his hips. "I totally agree!" He declared, Plue jumping into the air, while I rubbed the bridge of my nose and Lucy facepalmed.

Turning to the two of us, Natsu pointed first at Lucy. "Lucy, you came after me when I went after Macao – plus, your Celestial Spirit beat up that Vulcan and saved Macao!" His finger tracked over to me. "Declan, you're good at not breaking stuff, and we can pull off some awesome combination attacks!"

 _'...Is that really his motivation behind asking me to team up with him...?'_

"Plus," he continued, "you two are-"

Before he finished that sentence, Taurus' key was in Lucy's hand, and the Dragon Slayer could probably feel a certain amount of drag in the direction of the open window as I levelled a palm at him. "I'm sorry," I smiled, the expression probably not conveying happiness as it was designed to do, "you were saying?"

The suddenly sweating young man grinned awkwardly, the laugh he emitted not sounding particularly genuine. "You two are...neighbours, and you get along. Plus you're both smarter than me..."

I blinked rapidly, lowering my hand. So, Natsu acknowledged something like that? I always kinda figured he was too stubborn. _'Shows what I know. I might as well start thinking of what I know about these people being the broad strokes of their personalities – not their true characters.'_

"Are you going somewhere with this, Natsu?" Lucy asked, and the Dragon Slayer nodded several times.

"Yeah, I am. I'm agreeing with Plue's idea – we should all make a team!"

Lucy blinked, though I already knew about this. "A team?" She queried, wondering more about its meaning in context than in general.

I decided to explain. "Well, you know how everyone is part of the Guild, right?" She nodded. "Well, within the Guild there are some Mages who prefer to take jobs alone, but quite a lot of them generally head out with the same group of people. It could just be they get along well, or they might have complimentary skill sets – but one way or another, they form a team, and it makes clearing jobs easier in the long run."

"Many hands..." The blonde muttered idly, and I nodded.

"Exactly."

Lucy smiled, then nodded. "It sounds like a great idea to me."

"Awesome!" Natsu exclaimed, throwing up a fist as Happy leapt into the air with a shout of 'Aye!', Plue doing the same thing, although his shout was also the only word he could say. Lucy laughed and joked that the contract was sealed, while I took another sip from my tea, my lips curving into a smile behind the porcelain.

"I actually have a job already." Natsu informed us, producing a sheet of paper which I decided to take off his hands first.

"You work fast, Natsu." Lucy laughed, and the young man grinned.

"I figured you guys would say yes," he admitted. "We've all been getting along pretty well these past few days, and plus you and Declan would get to spend more time tog-"

The rest of his speech was cut off by the sound of flesh-on-flesh, and I finished my perusal of the poster to see that the Dragon Slayer was laid out on the floor twitching, a bright-red Lucy standing above him with her fist outstretched.

I cleared my throat, catching their attention. "So to summarise the job," I began, "we travel to Shirotsume Town, then break into the home of the Duke of Everlue and recover a certain book for the client, whereupon we'll be paid 200,000 Jewels?"

Natsu nodded, while Lucy's mild rage/embarrassment transitioned into excitement at the figure. "200,000 Jewels for a book? That's brilliant!" Pausing, she suddenly frowned. "Wait...is there a catch of some kind?"

I looked at the poster again, specifically the warning next to the depiction of the Duke, then up again. Natsu made to open his mouth, a devious look already forming on his face...but I promptly flared the gravity around his head, smacking it into the floor again. "None at all." I told her with a perfectly straight face, though with Natsu's sudden motion it might not have been as effective as I'd have liked.

"Right..." Lucy muttered, eyeing me for a moment before shaking her head. "I'm gonna go pack for the trip. You guys should go do the same."

"Gotcha," I agreed, dragging Natsu up from the floor as I headed out the front door instead of the window, Happy flying along beside us. "See ya about noon, Lucy?"

"Right!" She called after us, and I closed the door once we were through, holding the Dragon Slayer at arm's length in front of me. We were about the same height, and I was reducing his weight at the moment, so I pulled it off.

"Natsu?" I asked, getting his attention. "Please don't tell me you were going to have Lucy pose as an applicant for this maid job?"

The Dragon Slayer paused, opened his mouth, then shut it.

"...Are you saying nothing because you can't deny it?"

Another pause. Then a nod.

I let out a sigh, putting him on his feet and rubbing my eyes. "Natsu...this poster labels him as a well-known pervert. Do you _really_ want him within arm's reach of our friend? A member of our _team?_ "

The Dragon Slayer stared at me for a moment with an odd look, before shaking his head and frowning as he stared at the paper. "...I didn't really think about that," he said. "It was such an obvious way in..."

I nodded, rolling up the paper. "It is," I told him. "In another situation, I might actually suggest trying it. But I don't like the idea of any woman having to be near a guy like this, and I _definitely_ don't like the idea of Lucy being the woman in question."

Natsu let out a breath, then nodded. "Yeah, I get that." He clapped me on the shoulder. "Thanks for setting me straight, Declan." His grin started coming back now, as he started to head down the corridor. "I'll see you at noon!"

I followed in his wake after a moment, heading for my apartment to put together some travelling gear. _'So, it's time for us to go after Daybreak.'_ I narrowed my eyes. _'I've read about so many characters over the years who I'd have loved to get my hands on...and now, I've actually got the chance.'_

I couldn't help the slasher grin that formed on my face. _'I think I'm going to enjoy this mission.'_

* * *

"Hey, Mira!"

"What is it, Natsu?"

"I've just formed a team!"

"Oh, you have? With Declan and Lucy, by any chance?"

"Yup! We're even going on our first job soon."

"That one you took down from the board a little while ago?"

"That's right. You know...I was gonna make a joke, about having Lucy apply for the job that the target's got open and getting us inside..."

"Oh? You changed your mind?"

"Actually, Declan stopped me from making it. He dragged me out of the room, then _scolded_ me. I mean, it's good that he cares and all – but he actually thought I was serious?"

"Well Natsu, it can be rather hard to tell with you, sometimes..."

"Tch. I'll just have to spend more time with them, then – we'll get along well enough after a while."

"Well, you're not wrong... So, Declan's being protective of Lucy then?"

"Hehehe...yup. He told me he wouldn't have liked putting any woman in that position, but Lucy in particular."

"Those two really aren't doing themselves any favours in trying to convince us they're not interested in one another."

"I guess not. It kinda reminds me of L..."

"..."

"...Sorry, Mira."

"No...no, it's okay, Natsu. She was close to you too."

"..."

"You take care on your mission, alright? Don't go racking up another massive bill, the Guild Master's heart can only take so much."

"Hehehehe...I make no promises."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **Right then. That covers the Macao Arc, the intervening time and the beginning of the Daybreak Arc. I personally feel like a lot of the characters in Fairy Tail could be a bit overblown at times, so I'll probably end up portraying them as a bit more...normal, I guess. Just a quick heads-up. I'll try and keep in some of the original wackiness, but we'll just see how things happen.**

* * *

 **Now, there was a Guest review left on the last chapter which raised a few questions, so I'm gonna answer them here.**

[Gravity Magic is an interesting choice, and a powerful one at that. But is that the only type of Magic he'll learn or will he learn more?]

For at least a while, Gravity Magic will be the only skill Declan has - certainly, it'll always be his first choice. However, considering the various minor Magics that have been shown (e.g. basic Transformation Magic, standard Requip Magic (since Erza's Requip is basically the Tracing to normal Requip's Gradient Air)), having him pick up a few other skills would be fairly logical. Nothing particularly major - but I'm sure I'll get some interesting suggestions, or that inspiration will strike.

[It might also be an interesting idea to give him legendary weapons to use like Gae Bolg or Balmung which he can switch between.]

Generally speaking, Declan's going to be an unarmed combatant - the fact that Erza uses weapons and yet doesn't kill her opponents is a sign of skill, skill that Declan doesn't have. I'll consider some kind of weapon/artefact, or since I'm going to be going rather off the rails with the canon at times I might spread a few among other characters; we'll wait and see for now.

[I know a lot of people are going to ask about this so I'll be the first to do so, will Declan be paired with anyone? There are a lot of girls he can be paired with in Fairy Tail, or it could be a harem. I actually prefer girls like Levy, Laki, Kinana or Yukino, but I'm not too sure how things will turn out.]

Honestly, I've not got much of a focus on pairings. It's not what I do best, certainly. I'll probably have pairings between characters in the story (since I can't help but ship it sometimes), but with Declan, it'll either be a singular pairing or gen; depends on how he develops and how things go with the other characters as I write. Right now, it probably looks like Lucy is the most likely candidate - but Fairy Tail has a great many interesting characters, particularly later on, so once again we'll wait and see. I might do a poll for it, if this story gains enough followers to make it viable.

[Finally, how up to date is Declan with the Fairy Tail story? I mean, has he read the latest chapter from this week or has the series already finished from his present time when he appears in Earthland?]

I'd say that Declan knows basically what's meant to happen up until after the Battle of Fairy Tail Arc - so that's the Macao, Daybreak, Lullaby, Galuna Island, Phantom Lord, Loke, Tower of Heaven and Battle of Fairy Tail arcs. Up to chapter 130, basically.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed reading, and that it's interesting enough to keep you coming back for more. Leave a review if you can think of anything it might be good to add or remove, or if you just want to make your opinion known.**

 **'Till next time!**


	4. III - Luminosity

All three of us met up in front of the Guild at noon, Natsu and I both wearing backpacks, while Lucy carried her satchel. From the Guild, we headed off into town, eventually finding a wagon heading to Shirotsume.

Natsu was, predictably enough, largely conked out for the duration of the ride. He conversed in mumbles, when he did at all, leaving Lucy, Happy and I to carry the conversation.

The flying cat was somewhat different in person. He didn't seem quite so... _simple,_ I suppose – he was somewhere between whimsical and oblivious, rather than dumb. But one thing he _definitely_ shared with his manga counterpart was his mischievousness. Much as Natsu, Mirajane, Makarov and apparently most of the _rest_ of the Guild as well had taken to doing, he dropped insinuations seemingly every time he opened his mouth.

By the time we were forty-five minutes into the ride, Lucy was at her wits' end, and I was getting there quickly. So, I played dirty, and placed a repulsive gravitational field over any fish he tried to eat, effectively stopping him from eating by dint of not letting the fish get anywhere near his mouth.

If he hadn't been winding me up for most of the day thus far, I might have felt some sympathy for him – I was a cat person at heart, after all. Unfortunately for him, whatever genial dispensation I might have made toward him based on species had evaporated about the fifth time he'd asked when Lucy and I were moving in together.

He finally fell into a moping silence after ten minutes of constantly trying everything he could think of to sink his teeth into one of the seemingly infinite sea creatures he pulled out of his little backpack, and both Lucy and I breathed a sigh of relief.

* * *

The rest of the ride passed quietly, and we disembarked en-mass once we reached the town, seeking out and locating a restaurant. I ordered light and ate quickly, then informed my teammates that they should go and talk with the client while I went looking for the place we were getting the book from and had a look around.

With a warning from Natsu not to level the place before he got there, and a well-wishing from Lucy and Happy, I made my way into the woods beside the town, checked the coast was clear, and then closed my eyes to focus on the feeling of gravity around me.

It was almost like sight, except it was tactile. Within my range, the gravity of Earthland pulled everything towards itself like one great rainfall from on high, effectively painting the undersides of objects with thick lines. Other, smaller forces weren't quite so obvious, but still worked in concert to portray the world in terms of leashed tension.

I could reach out and touch any of those forces within about a hundred metres of myself for the moment, which was pretty damn good compared to my original twenty. Still, without being able to mingle my own body's gravitational field with the object's, trying to manipulate it was difficult.

It was probably due to me being an Ability-type Mage, but my body's gravity was far easier for me to manipulate than anything else's. I could extend that ease to other things by touching them or getting within about a half metre at a push, but for now I just needed to work with myself and Earthland.

Severing my own tie to the planet's gravity left me able to kick off the ground and soar into the air, remaining vertical through practice. The first time I did this, I started doing cartwheels and other acrobatics by accident, ending up sick to my stomach. Perseverance counted for a lot though, and as I reached a point where Shirotsume was laid out below me and I began to focus once more, I felt that the time I'd put into this was well worth it.

There was nothing quite like the sensation of flight under my own power. Here I stood in empty air, my body currently anchored to a point of space which had spontaneously become a source of gravitational attraction almost on par with Earthland's surface, and it was me that was accomplishing it.

Made my dreams of being a pilot in years gone by seem kinda tame, really.

I easily picked out the Everlue Mansion. The place was as large as any four buildings in the rest of the town combined, a monument to a man whose ego was only trumped by his greed.

I had to fight the urge to just touch down on top of it and begin a re-run of 'Nagato's Extreme Konoha Makeovers', but reminded myself that Daybreak was in there – as was Virgo. The Spirit had been diligent in taking care of Lucy, and certainly didn't deserve an owner like Everlue.

It was the work of a moment's focus to re-orient myself so I was 'lying' on my front - though, seeing as I wasn't actually touching a solid surface, the correct adjective was debatable. While flying, I was effectively balanced within six points of gravity, all of them under my control - one above and one below, one in front and one behind, one on the left and one to the right. By moving those points around and either strengthening or weakening them, I could change my speed, orientation and direction - though for the moment, it was still a focus exercise, and I didn't have the fine touch of a proper flyer quite yet.

Still, empowering the forward point was simple, and began to pull me through the sky at a decent clip.

I was sure that my duster was flapping about quite epically right about then, but I wasn't really thinking about it. _'Okay, first purchase when we get back to Magnolia – goggles. Or, alternatively, find/commission some kind of wind-shield enchantment or something for my coat, so it's not creating so much drag.'_

Still, despite my aeronautic woes, I made it to the mansion and touched down on its roof without any real trouble. I opened my senses, trying to scout the layout within by the gravity affecting it, and was rewarded with a general idea of where people were. There were almost two dozen miscellaneous magical signatures scattered about the place - which was to be expected, when every home in Earthland kept such a large number of magical devices for use around the house.

Still, only three of those were important to me right now. The first was the signature on par with Taurus, its nature solid and unyielding - that had to be Virgo. She was close to another signature - this one with a power level that was almost on par with the household appliances, boasting an incredibly faint echo of the nature that Virgo possessed, but irrevocably tainted with much the same sensation I had felt from the Vulcan on Mt Hakobe.

Fighting off the urge to shudder, I turned my senses to the other prominent signature, biting my lip to keep my focus. The remaining signature was more akin to the house's appliances than to Virgo or any other living being, and the only way I could find to describe its nature was that it sounded like a vacuum cleaner.

They were scattered all about the place, Virgo on the move but the Vanish Brothers and Everlue all sitting in place. Since I couldn't sense them from here, I had to assume that Everlue's maids had no magical power to call their own - and when I shifted from sensing magic to sensing gravity, they appeared like I'd switched spectra on a camera, painted into existence around Virgo by the shaded lines of gravitational attraction.

Judging by the fact that all the maids and Virgo were together near the back of the house, on one of the upper floors if I was right, and the other occupants of the house were just sitting around, they didn't know I was here yet.

 _'Seems like it really was how loud they were being that got Lucy and Natsu caught before...'_ Still, best not to get cocky – after all, Natsu might be able to wipe this place out with one good attack (and in all likelihood, so could I), but ideally we'd leave the place intact for the Magic Council's investigators to have a poke around in, once we revealed Everlue's crimes and turned him over.

Assured that everyone I was expecting was present and accounted for, I once more kicked off into the air, orienting myself for the town and accelerating.

 _'That's reconnaissance complete; time for a little payback, Fairy Tail style.'_

* * *

I led the way to the mansion through the air after meeting the other three coming back from meeting with the client, Kaby Melon, and getting the run-down from them. Nothing was different from what I'd already known – he wanted the book destroyed, and was willing to pay 2,000,000 Jewels.

I'd actually come across Lucy and Happy arguing over the split. It seemed that the cat was trying to argue that he and Natsu would get a third each, and then she and I could split the remainder, for a reason he never managed to say.

Largely because I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and tossed him like a baseball into an nearby tree.

That might have seemed a bit harsh, but as evidenced by his ability to grow wings on command, Happy was a magical creature - this being the case, he just bounced right off the tree and back to his feet, none the worse for wear.

We took a few minutes to plan our entrance, and Lucy had backed me up in approaching from the roof. Thus, a slightly grumpy Natsu was being carried by Happy, while I was aiding Lucy's flight by extending my altered gravitational field to cover her as well and moving us both at the same time. It was a bit of a balancing act, keeping us both stable and moving in the right direction without rolling or flipping, but I made it work.

We were both choosing to ignore that in order to get anywhere near enough control over both of our gravitational fields to manage that, I'd had to hook my left arm through Lucy's right, leaving us almost side-to-side as we flew - something I couldn't pay attention to since I was focussed on keeping us stable, but which Lucy was entirely cognisant of.

And Natsu too, of course - because he _definitely_ needed more stories to be spreading around the Guild.

We landed on the rooftop as one, touching down lightly and glancing around quickly before Natsu moved toward a large, open-able window that rose from the surface of the roof. "Seriously though," the Dragon Slayer grumbled. "That Melon guy just wants the book destroyed. If we're gonna be destroying stuff anyway, why can't we just go through the front door?"

Lucy sighed. "Whether an object in his possession is our target or not, the Duke of Everlue is still a powerful political figure," she told him. "We're breaking and entering as it is, and with intent to destroy his property. If he catches us, he can easily call in the military – and not only will _we_ get arrested, the Guild will be in trouble too!"

Natsu pressed his hand against one of the panes of glass that made up the window, causing it to glow a cherry red in seconds and then melt away, leaving him free to reach through and start grasping for the handle. "You sure worry a lot, Lucy." He told her. "If he's going to call the guards, we just beat him up and run away. That's what Happy and I always do."

" _That just makes you criminals!_ " Lucy snapped, seemingly restraining herself from smacking Natsu on the head by sheer force of will.

 _'Well, he_ could _call the guards,_ ' I thought to myself, _'but then he's risking all his shady business ventures coming to light. No, he'll rely on Virgo and the Vanish Brothers, plus his Diver magic.'_

I didn't even bother counting the maids.

Natsu found the latch a moment later, and all four of us headed inside. We were in a storage area, or so it seemed – there were shelves everywhere, covered in all kinds of knick-knacks. Happy had already found himself a skull to wear somewhere, while Natsu looked through a box and Lucy scouted around for the way out.

I chose to have a quick nosey around the place, looking for anything interesting to take with us. I wasn't going to feel guilty about stealing from the Duke, and besides, if I messed up my attempts to keep this place in (mostly) one piece, then all of this stuff would be burned and/or crushed anyway.

Honestly, most of the stuff in there was junk – any magical appliances I recognised had run out of magical power, probably having been replaced by newer models since they were purchased. There was one magical signature remaining however, a Lacrima with what seemed to be a miniature wolf draped over the top. The magic inside it was leading off to somewhere else, much like the ward in Amelia's hospital, while the feeling I got from it reminded me of...television?

It took me a few seconds to put the pieces together, but once I did, I carefully schooled my features to not reveal my sudden urge to start cursing. Instead, I simply turned away as if I'd lost interest, moving over to where Happy had just finished checking that the coast was clear.

As soon as we were outside, I tapped both of my fellow Mages on their shoulders. "They know we're here." I told them shortly, Lucy immediately going pale while Natsu just began to grin.

"What?! How could they know already?" Lucy demanded, and I thumbed behind us.

"There was some kinda image Lacrima in the room back there – I'd bet anything that the Duke or one of his staff is watching what it can see, plus however many others he's got scattered about this place."

The blonde groaned, while Natsu's features took on a somewhat feral expression. "So what you're saying," he began, "is that there's no point in sneaking around any more?"

I couldn't help a little smirk of my own. "Pretty much. Let's not go overboard – but for now, we just go full speed, and try to find Daybreak as fast as possible."

"Right!" Natsu called, thumping his fists together before starting to run off, leaving Lucy and I behind.

I glanced sideways at the Celestial Spirit Mage, who let out a half-sigh, half-whine before muttering, "Two million Jewels is _so_ not worth going to prison...I'm too pretty for jail!"

I chuckled as I ran alongside her, in pursuit of the Dragon Slayer. "Cheer up Lucy," I told her. "If we do this quickly enough, we can be out of the area before any of the guards show up in a worst-case scenario. I'm pretty sure the Guild Master can cover for us if we can get back to the Guild – this can't be the first time Fairy Tail's had a job that isn't exactly legal."

Lucy probably would have sighed if we weren't running, but she _did_ nod. "I suppose so..."

We caught up with Natsu just in time to see the ground in front of him erupt, disgorging five women, the most attention-grabbing being Virgo - and dear _God_ , it was one thing to see her in the manga, but real life was another matter entirely.

She had enough body mass to make any sumo wrestler look like an anorexic, and damn near all of its was muscle. Despite being dressed in a French maid's uniform, her appearance - even her face, complete with lipstick and pink hair in short, spiky pigtails - was so utterly masculine that, if it weren't for the fact that her chest was too large for her to button her blouse, yet still remained covered through presumably sheer force of friction, I'd think someone bombarded Hulk Hogan with gamma rays and then slung him in a maid cosplay.

Alongside Virgo, there were four other women in similar outfits - and they were some of the ugliest women I had ever seen in my life. Honestly, I was basically conditioned against _any_ thoughts of that kind by long adaptation and repeated lessons – but there was a goddamn limit, and these singularly unfortunate women had _shattered_ it.

Of course, the five combined were no match for Natsu – he just leapt into a spinning kick, propelled by the combustion of his magic, and all of them, even the titanic Virgo, were sent flying.

 _'Despite her titanic magical signature, Virgo seems to lack even the kind of musclepower that could be expected from her physique alone.'_ I noted as we approached. _'So, it's true that Celestial Spirits' power levels are limited by the amount of magical power they receive from their contractors.'_

That raised a whole slew of _Why_ questions, and I momentarily entertained the idea of trying to get inside the time-stop effect of Lucy's meeting with the Celestial Spirit King to ask some of them.

Then my common sense returned from his vacation just long enough to bitch-slap my inner mad scientist back into his cell, and my normal thought process resumed just in time for Lucy and I to pull even with Natsu.

The break in his motion was enough time for Lucy and I to catch up, and as we slowed down I focussed on trying to find anything magical nearby. There was Natsu, Lucy, her Keys, Happy, Virgo...and in a room three doors down and on our right, I could feel three more 'chords'. The Vanish Brothers' frying pan, Duke Everlue and another signature - one I hadn't been able to pick up on from the roof.

The sound of turning pages, glowing characters glimmering just outside of my perception, the feel of aged paper beneath my fingers. _'Daybreak.'_

"Let's try here!" I called, moving quickly to the door the signatures were behind. I pushed it open easily, holding it for my three comrades and making a show of looking both ways to check if anyone was coming, before pulling it closed behind me.

Natsu, Lucy and Happy had already moved to the bookshelves, while I could feel the frying pan moving behind a shelf around halfway into the room, set into the wall on my left as I looked in. Duke Everlue had manoeuvred himself beneath a certain point between myself and my comrades, and I passed over him as I walked over to join them.

True to form, Natsu found the book in a ridiculously short amount of time, and Lucy moved over to him to have a look at it. I followed, looking at the golden cover, and simultaneously feeling the magic in the book – its 'magical resonance', as I'd taken to calling the sensations.

"Well then," Natsu said cheerfully, "let's burn this thing and be on our way!"

""Wait-!"" Lucy and I both called out at the same time, the blonde grabbing the text from the Dragon Slayer even as I placed myself bodily between Natsu and the book.

It was...probably a bit overboard of me to possibly place myself in harm's way for a book. But dammit, I wasn't an assistant librarian for nothing! I placed a lot of value in books, in the stories, lessons and knowledge within them.

Plus, I was Scottish – and there was only one man anyone from Britain associated with burning books.

I momentarily shuddered at the thought of Natsu with a toothbrush moustache, while behind me Lucy let out a delighted 'squee'. "This book was written by Kemu Zaleon, the Mage who became a writer!" She cried, alternately holding the book up to the light and hugging it close. "It must have been an unpublished work, since I don't have a copy of it..."

Idly, I made a mental note to look up the rest of the books written under that pseudonym at some point. I'd forgotten that they had such a good reputation – maybe Lucy would lend me her copies?

"Well, that's great and all," Natsu told her, trying to lean around me. "But we need to burn it so we can finish the job."

"We can't _burn_ it!" Lucy cried, holding the book to her chest protectively now. "This is cultural heritage!"

"Lucy, it's _our job_ ," Natsu reminded her, looking vaguely annoyed. He turned to me, giving me a beseeching look. "Declan, help me out here!"

I looked at him for a moment, then turned to where Lucy was giving me the single most effective puppy dog eyes I'd ever experienced.

I'm rather ashamed to say I folded like a house of cards in a couple of seconds flat, turning back to Natsu and scratching the back of my head. "Well...we could always tell him it was destroyed and just let Lucy have it?" I suggested.

The Dragon Slayer stared at me for a moment, and Happy chose that time to speak up. "Natsu, I think this is what humans mean by being 'wrapped around her little finger'."

Natsu nodded sagely in agreement, and I felt myself beginning to redden, folding my arms and ready to argue – but we were broken from our distraction by an oily voice sounding through the room. "Ah, I see, I see..." The sound of rumbling earth came, before the stone floor further along the room cracked and disgorged a man whose features I knew without even turning.

Short and fat, like some kind of troll or goblin – and with a face to match, what vague humanity it had coming from a hairstyle like a bad toupee, and a moustache that seemed to curl from his nostrils. He was dressed in a black suit with one over-large button on the front, a flower tucked into a pocket on his left pectoral.

Everything about him screamed 'shady businessman' – and as he landed on the ground, I didn't need to see his face to know that a sneer was spread wide on his features.

"So, the thing that those Mages were looking for so frantically...was that worthless book!"

Lucy's brow furrowed, as she glanced down at the book in her arms. Natsu had tensed, getting ready to fight, and I spun on my heel, feeling my lip curl just _looking_ at the bastard.

Everlue seemed to notice, as his suddenly angry tone echoed out. "Oi! What kind of expression are you looking at me with, you damn kid!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Sorry," I called out. "I thought I must've stepped in something coming in – but I guess it was just you."

The goblin (as I would from now on refer to him) turned steamed-lobster red and growled, hopping up and down like a petulant child. "How _dare_ you!" He screamed, raging like a child on X-Box live. "You're done! Finished! History! Don't you know who I'm friends with?!"

"Other shady businessmen?" I asked casually, putting a pinky in my ear and turning it. It wasn't actually a habit of mine, but it served to make me look more casual, like I didn't care about him at all. "I mean, you've not even called the guards, yet – is there something you want to hide, Duke?"

The suddenly ghost-white complexion of his features answered that question, while beside me, Lucy suddenly looked to Daybreak in a new light, before nodding to herself a few times...then dropping to her knees and opening the book, beginning to read.

I might have found that exasperating once upon a time – but I had the context here, and even more importantly, I had a target. "What are you doing with my property?!" The Duke bellowed, suddenly broken from his fear through what must have been some truly impressive avarice. "That's it – VANISH BROTHERS!"

There was a grinding of stone, and the bookcase to our right abruptly split and began to move. It revealed a hidden doorway, where two figures stood – one was massive, with hair like flower petals kept in check by an orange bandanna and dressed in a dark blue, high-collar shirt with jagged yellow lines down the outside of both arms, as well as light-grey jeans.

The other was of a more normal height, his hair kept in one massively long ponytail running down his back, over a ridiculously over-sized frying pan. He was wearing a white jacket with forest-green trim down the front where it closed, leading into dark trousers and sandals.

Natsu and I both eyed them up, while Happy was staring at the hole Everlue had emerged from and Lucy was frowning at the book as she read. "Good afternoon." The shorter figure greeted, rather cordially for a mercenary.

Beside him, his brother just sneered, arms folded. "So these brats are Fairy Tail Mages? Mama would be surprised..."

"Those armbands!" Happy called from behind us, pointing out the black-and-white armbands each brother wore, emblazoned with their Guild's emblem. "Those two are from a Mercenary Guild!"

"Seriously?" Natsu asked, eyeing the two with a new perspective. "This guy actually hired Mercenaries?"

"Boyoyoyoyoy!" Everlue...laughed? Did that count as laughing? - "The Southern Wolves are always hungry!"

I met the elder brother's eyes. He stared back at me; utterly implacable. Just looking at the way he held himself, I could see he was a step above my usual opponents – though, the tattoos on his face, combined with his massive frying pan, kinda spoiled the intimidation factor for me.

Nonetheless, there was a tension in the room, and it was rising fast as we stared each other down – the Vanish Brothers in front of Everlue, Natsu and I standing side-by-side with Happy just beside us, biting his lip...

And Lucy still buried in Daybreak.

The rest of the room noticed a few moments later, Natsu shooting her an incredulous look while the Vanish Brothers sneered and Everlue yelled at her. I backed up a few steps, until I was close enough to exchange a few low words. "Lucy."

She looked up at me, glancing between me and the book. She opened her mouth, but I cut her off. "That book – there's something about it, isn't there?"

She stared for a moment, then nodded – I returned the gesture, then flicked my hand toward her belt. "Okay. Natsu and I will handle the mercs; while we're doing that, you take out Everlue, then figure out the secret."

The blonde stared at me for another few seconds, then firmed her expression and nodded. "Right – leave it to me."

I grinned as her hand went to her belt, then moved back up beside Natsu, who had been trading insults with the Vanish Brothers and Everlue while I was talking with Lucy. Happy was still beside him, and I nudged the cat with a foot when I drew level. "Hey, Happy."

The cat looked up, and I jerked my head toward Lucy. "Keep an eye on Lucy, will you? She can handle Everlue easy, but just in case." I turned to look at the Duke again, then back to Happy. "Plus, I think he might have one of those golden Keys on him. See if you can't get your paws on it, okay?"

The little feline looked up at me for a moment, much like Lucy had done, then grinned and fired off a salute. "Aye, sir!"

I nodded to him, then turned to face our opponents again, sighting the shorter brother in particular. _'That frying pan of his can absorb fire attacks – sure, Natsu's basically immune to those, but we need this place in one piece.'_

"Hey Natsu," I interrupted my teammate in the middle of an exchange of insults. "Lucy's figuring out something about that book, so it's gonna be you and me on this. That okay?"

The Dragon Slayer turned to look at me, then back to the Mercenaries, pulling his arms across his chest to loosen his shoulders. "Two on two, huh? It's not gonna be much of a challenge."

I chuckled, cracking my fingers. "Unfortunately not. Still - a fight's a fight, isn't it?"

Natsu grinned. "Yup!"

"You have a great deal of confidence in yourselves," the older brother noted. "But can you back it up, Elemental Mages?"

I quirked an eyebrow, while Natsu responded. "Oh? Elemental Mages?"

"We saw everything on the surveillance Lacrima," the younger brother replied. "You melted your way through the window and attacked with flames – thus, you're a Fire Mage. The girl over there holds several Spirit Keys, so she's a Celestial Spirit Mage. The cat had wings, and then he didn't – so he has the Ability-type Magic Wings. And you," here he nodded to me, "flew yourself and the girl up here, so you're a Wind Mage."

I blinked at him a couple of times, seeing Natsu beside me open his mouth – and then promptly coughed into one hand, drowning out the Dragon Slayer's next words. "You've done a good job of observing us," I noted, shooting my teammate a _look_. He seemed to get the message, since he quieted, then nodded subtly and turned back to the Vanish Brothers.

"And if you know what we are..." Natsu continued, lifting one hand and igniting it. "That means you're ready to get charred, right?"

The elder brother reached up over his shoulder, swinging down the massive frying pan. "I'll have to decline," he replied. "After all, Fire Mages...are the easiest opponents for me."

"Oh?" Natsu dragged out the syllable, and I nudged him with my shoulder. He glanced at me, and I nodded at the brother.

"I call dibs."

Natsu stared at me for a moment, his face falling a bit. "No fair, Declan!" He wailed, pointing at the wielder of the frying pan with one hand and turning to face me fully. "He's a perfect opponent for me! Why are you calling dibs?!"

I fixed a stern expression on my face, poking Natsu in the chest. "You remember the reason you brought me onto this team?" I asked, doing my best to channel my mother. It took Natsu a few moments to put the pieces together, but when he did, he hung his head low and muttered something – probably regrets. "I see you do," I continued. "You'd absolutely wreck the place; so you have it out with the other guy, and _I'll_ deal with the Iron Chef over there."

As I'd expected, that reference went completely over Natsu's head – but he turned away from me, grumbling under his breath, and fixed his gaze on the younger brother as he cracked his knuckles. "Well, now I'm pissed. I hope you can back up all your talk." He commented, leaning forward a bit as he brought his fists up.

The large figure growled, raising his own fists. "You insulting me? I'll tell Mama about you!"

The older brother placed a hand on his sibling's chest, telling him to calm down, while I cracked my neck, finishing my pre-battle warm-up. The elder brother spoke up again. "You Fairy Tail Mages...you really do have a lot of confidence."

The younger brother grunted in agreement. "We hear lots of stories about your Guild, so we'll acknowledge its status..."

"But a Mage is a Mage." The elder brother continued.

"You're no match for professional fighters – Mercenaries like us, that is."

With the younger brother finished, Natsu raised one hand and made a 'come-hither' gesture with his fingers. "Then why don't you come and get me, big guy?"

The elder brother turned to me, his placid face giving nothing away. "And you? Will you not make the same invitation?"

I hummed, tapping my lip as if I was considering it, before shaking my head. "Nah," I denied. "I'm a bit more...hands-on."

And with that said, I tilted forward and kicked off the ground _hard_ , my reduced weight sending me rocketing forward as I pulled myself along with gravity, getting right in the mercenary's face as his eyes widened and he made to swing his pan at me.

I was faster than the metal, unfortunately for him, and I went straight past him on the left – while my right arm extended in a clothesline, the fighter's neck slotting right into my elbow as he was pulled along with me toward the chamber well.

Just before impact, I brought my feet back into contact with the ground, bringing myself to a screeching halt – but the elder Vanish Brother wasn't slowed at all, instead moving faster and faster as gravity continued to pull him onward into the wall, coinciding with the forward swing of my arm.

He hit like a horizontal meteor, blasting a massive hole in the structure and sending stone, wood and plaster out into the main hall in a massive cloud as I stalked after him, hearing the sounds of flesh striking flesh and roaring flames behind me as Natsu got started.

 **"Lariat."** I declared as I exited through the newly-minted doorway, hopping off the balcony-corridor and drifting to the floor of the main hall. My opponent was getting up, dusting himself off momentarily and wiping his mouth with the back of a closed fist as he stared me down, still without showing any real emotion.

"You are interesting Mages," he commented, "your Flame Mage friend and you."

"Oh?" I asked, shoving my hands in my trouser pockets as I eyed the mercenary, who had reclaimed his frying pan. "Is it because we like to fight with our hands and feet?"

The man nodded. "Indeed," he agreed. "The intrinsic weakness of Mages is that, in order to master their Magic, they have to train their minds and spirits – and in doing so, they neglect training their bodies, leaving them with a glaring weakness." He narrowed his eyes – well, more than they were narrowed naturally. "Yet, both of you show the signs of physical conditioning."

I snorted, nodding. "Yeah – both of us _could_ use our Magic from range, and we'd probably have ended our fights already. _But_ ," I lifted one hand to my face, idly clenching it into a fist before looking back up at the elder brother. "Where's the honour in that? Where's the excitement, and the chance to know where you stand in the world? You can't look your opponent in the eyes across a battlefield – you need to be right in front of him, trading blows.

"I get that; Natsu gets that; so do a few other Mages." I shrugged. "You can call it the 'intrinsic weakness' if you want – but don't go painting all of us Mages with one brush."

The man stared at me for a few moments longer, before nodding to himself. "My name is An Bao– the elder of the Vanish Brothers. What is your name, Mage?"

I blinked several times rapidly, before inclining my head. "My name is Declan Ross – I suppose you could say I'm one of Team Natsu's peacemakers."

An nodded, accepting the introduction. "I will remember you, Declan Ross. Now-" He raised his left hand in front of him, backs of the fingers facing me and tips to the ceiling, while his right hand held the massive frying pan behind his back horizontally. The fingers twitched to beckon me onward. "Let us continue!"

My lips pulled back from my teeth, and I pulled my own hands from my pockets to settle into a three-point crouch. "Bring it, An Bao!"

I pushed off, rocketing through the air towards the now-prepared warrior. An swung his frying pan around, bringing his left arm onto the handle for a two-handed blow like a home-run strike. The metal circle came at me fast, so I twisted forward until my hands touched the floor and pushed off, changing my straight-shot trajectory into an up-and-over arc, the frying pan passing beneath me as I passed into the air directly above An.

I re-applied my normal gravity, falling directly downward with one leg extended. An's eyes hadn't left me at all, and he spun around once to keep control over the momentum of the frying pan before bringing it into an upward swing to intercept me.

There was a _thud_ as my foot hit the metal, and I grimaced at the shock it sent up my leg as I flipped back off the weapon to land on my feet. An came rushing in fast, frying pan already coming around in a swing that I hopped into the air to avoid. As I did so, An copied my motion, spinning to perform a roundhouse kick in mid-air.

I reached out and grabbed his incoming ankle on reflex, then spun my body so I was holding the limb over my right shoulder and reducing the combined weight of An and his frying pan to nearly zero. With that done, it was child's play to swing him and his weapon over my shoulder like a hammer.

I ended up freezing for a moment, though, when An turned the landing into a forward roll, negating a lot of the force. Then he brought his frying pan forward and used it as a vaulting pole once he exited the roll, just in time to drag it with him as he ended up with both feet on the wall for an instant before gravity kicked in. In that instant, An bent his legs completely and launched from the wall with enough force to leave indentations in the wood, passing in an arc above me with his back facing down, before abruptly beginning to corkscrew as he dropped down, leaving me barely a moment to throw myself out of the way when the frying pan came crashing down, seeking my head.

Dust rose, and I couldn't see An within it as I got myself back under control down – which meant I was caught completely by surprise when the frying pan appeared from the cloud and caught me full on the right side, lifting me off the ground and sending me rolling away across the floor.

I winced as I came to a halt against the wall with enough force to splinter it, getting to my feet slowly and flexing my right arm carefully. It was still functional – painful, but functional, so no breaks.

The dust cloud settled, revealing An, looking none the worse for wear.

My eyes narrowed, and I charged forward the moment I got back to my feet, ignoring the way my entire side flared up with the motion. The martial artist rotated his weapon as I approached, bringing it around parallel to the ground instead of perpendicular, a cutting weapon more than a bludgeon. Since I had so far chosen to go _up_ during our exchanges, I switched tactics - throwing myself forward on my left shoulder, just getting myself past the head of the pan to let the shaft pass over my back as I moved.

Snapping my legs out to the side, I scissored them - my left leg in front of his ankles, my right behind his knees. An toppled immediately, preventing himself from falling by using his frying pan as a crutch but still without any balance or anchoring.

Which was unfortunate for him, since I tilted my body, shot out my left arm, and therefore brought my right leg high enough to slot the back of his neck into the back of my knee, then bring up my left leg and kick backwards into my own shin.

An toppled forward and ate floorboards, while I simultaneously pushed off the ground with my left arm and used my near-weightlessness to keep myself in the air, corkscrewing to be on my front again before returning to my usual weight and rolling forwards, spinning back to face An once I regained my feet.

The martial artist had staggered to his feet, blinking rapidly and with blood streaming from his nose, a slightly dazed look in his eyes - one which vanished the instant he locked gazes with me.

We stared each other down for a long moment, breathing hard and letting our respective pains settle into a low burn - and, as we had our stand-off, I felt more and more of my teeth begin to show.

I couldn't help but feel that, since arriving in Earthland – and maybe even before then – I had been born with or developed an acute case of battle mania. This adrenaline in my veins, the roaring of blood in my ears, the aches in my limbs that spoke of hits given and taken in equal measure...

I felt _alive._

The feral grin I wore around then probably resembled Natsu's to a rather frightening degree – I say that, mostly because An was mirroring me, showing way too many teeth in a savage grin. It was a shocking departure from his usual composure - but then, it was only the two of us here, so appearances could be discarded.

I took a deep breath, then abruptly hopped backwards. Directly behind me was the wall, so for anyone else the manoeuvre was pointless – for me, with my gravity altered, it allowed me to crouch on the surface in a three-point launch position, my legs coiled beneath me.

I leapt straight into a gravity corridor, blurring across the space between me and my opponent as the frying pan arced around once for momentum, then up and over An's head into a hammer-strike.

The three objects – the frying pan, An and I – formed a triangle in the instant before impact. The metal was swinging in from above, connected by the long handle to An, while I was approaching on the horizontal, within arm's reach of my opponent. It was a straight-up contest of speed; which would arrive first? Me, or the frying pan?

Unfortunately for An, this was _my_ battlefield. He was undoubtedly the better martial artist, the better warrior. But me? I was a Mage, true, but before that? I was a _physicist_.

And this was a numbers game now.

The acceleration of the frying pan was truly impressive; An's leverage on the handle, making full use of his hard-earned strength, combined with the pull of gravity on the pan's mass to turn up some formidable figures, even when fighting against air resistance – frying pans weren't exactly aerodynamic, especially not at that size.

Unfortunately, a human lying flat has much less to worry about in that respect – and my own acceleration was _far_ in excess of what he was producing.

By the time the head of the frying pan hit the air where I'd been, An and I were already gone – the former bent almost double, my fist buried in his stomach and imparting all the force of my acceleration, the weapon lost from his grip as his fingers spasmed.

My feet dug into the floor as gravity pulled me down once more, but I wasn't done yet. Twisting in place, sheer velocity did the job of keeping An stuck on my fist long enough for me to spin in place, bringing my arm up and over my head, and _pound_ him into the floor with a shout.

I heard the floorboards crack as dust rose once more, and having learned my lesson I skipped back several steps, panting even harder now and shaking out my fist.

I watched the cloud for several moments, but no martial artist came swinging out of it. There was coughing, and when the dust settled it revealed An lying in the shattered wood of the floor, face up, staring at nothing in particular.

He coughed again, his entire body shaking a bit, before taking a deep, shuddering breath. "That was...an impressive strike...for a Mage..." He rasped, breaking to cough every few words.

From where I was standing, hands on my knees and getting my breath back, I offered an unseen shrug. "Kinda feels like cheating." I admitted, straightening once I had some air in my lungs. "I mean, I couldn't have done that without the speed from my jump."

An grunted. "Still, it was your fist which dealt the final blow – I should know; I have the bruise."

I stared at my prone opponent for a moment, before snickering. "Good point, An – good point."

The martial artist snickered too, and the two of us just breathed for a while, cataloguing our aches and pains – or, I was, at least. For An, everything was probably aching right about then.

It was nice, in its own way – peaceful. The calm after the storm, as it were.

It lasted all of five seconds before the younger Vanish Brother came crashing through the library wall, making an entirely new hole of his own, before landing flat on the boards only about a metre from his brother and letting out a long, low groan.

"Hey, Declan!"

I looked up, seeing Natsu standing on the balcony, waving at me with a massive grin. _'Bastard – he doesn't even look winded.'_

I waved back. "Yo, Natsu."

The Dragon Slayer overlooked the main hall. It was liberally covered in dust and splinters, quite a few of the floorboards had been completely obliterated, and the wall where I'd ended up after my little tumble was showing some serious wear.

For a Fairy Tail fight-zone, it was pretty tame.

"Well, I'm done!" Natsu declared, turning to head back into the library. "C'mon, Declan – Lucy's saying we've gotta get the book back to the guy with the delicious name!"

"Gotcha!" I called back to him, taking another deep breath before starting to walk over to the balcony so I could jump up.

I paused, just before I took the leap, and glanced back to where An was lying. "That was a good fight." I commented, and there was a grunt of agreement from the hole. "In fact, I got knocked around pretty good – I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to point out who did it if I ever saw them again, actually."

I scratched the back of my head, wincing slightly as my right arm protested the motion. "Plus, the Military Police around here probably won't arrive for an hour, at least. If the culprit were gone by then, they'd probably never be found."

My piece said, I crouched down slightly, reducing my own gravity before kicking off, touching down on the balcony outside the library with a light _tap_ , and tucking my hands into my pockets before following Natsu.

Sure, the Vanish Brothers were mercenaries, and had undoubtedly had a hand in a great many injuries or deaths, some of them likely undeserved – but I'd never been the kind to leave a debt unpaid, and I owed him a good fight. Maybe our paths would cross again – who knew?

For now, I'd be content with leaving the score open to being settled some other time.

I stepped through the wall into the library, and my eyes were immediately drawn to the insensate and completely bald figure of Duke Everlue, whose head was poking out from underneath a toppled bookshelf, a bright-red palm print on his face.

Standing a few feet away was Lucy, Daybreak tucked securely under one of her arms, while beside her Natsu was waiting for me.

I looked between the blonde and Everlue once or twice, raising an eyebrow, and the Celestial Spirit Mage shot a furious/disgusted look at the man beneath the bookshelf. "That filthy old pervert came out of the floor and tried to grab me!" She growled, looking like she was itching to deliver another beating to the insensate man. "Then when I slapped him, he just started going on about how I couldn't compare to his maids..."

I wondered if it would be in bad taste for me to laugh, and it must have shown on my face since Lucy turned her glare on me. "Woah!" I held my hands up for defence, a smirk twitching at the corners of my lips. "I'm not laughing at you, Lucy." I glanced at Everlue again. "I'm just wondering what mirror universe he stepped out of, to get beauty and ugliness back to front like that."

Lucy's glare died immediately, replaced quickly with a flush as she turned away and she sniffed. "Of course – my sex appeal's no laughing matter, after all!"

I faltered, feeling a dusting of red across my own cheeks as my memory flashed back to what I'd seen entering Lucy's apartment that morning - an image I had to immediately chase out of my consciousness, since I didn't dare meet her eyes otherwise. "Indeed not..." I muttered under my breath. "Indeed not." _'I'm fairly sure she could stop a man's heart if she put her mind to it – or cause it to self-destruct. One or the other.'_

"Hey, Declan!"

I felt a weight settle on my shoulder, and turned my head to see Happy there, holding something golden in one paw. "You were right about the Key!" He chirped. "The maid lady was even happy to go with me – so long as she got to Lucy, anyway!"

I grinned, reaching up to scratch Happy between the ears before taking the Key from him. "Good job, Happy – I'll buy you a fish or five when we get back home, okay?"

"Aye, sir!"

As Happy jumped off my shoulder to go and hitch a ride on Natsu, I drew level with Lucy and got her attention with a cough, holding the key up to our eye level as she turned to look at me. Her eyes immediately focussed on it, and my smirk came fully to life at the look which appeared in her eyes (I tried moving the key from side to side a little - her eyes followed it like a cat watching a string). "Something to commemorate our first mission as a team." I told her, holding the golden object in her sight-line until she reached up and took it.

With it safely in her grip, I moved up to Natsu, whose arms were still folded but who had a grin fixed in place. "'No laughing matter', huh?"

I stumbled in mid-step, shooting a glance at Lucy and sighing a bit in relief when I saw she was off in whatever dream realm she had been inhabiting since seeing Virgo's key. _'Dragon Slayer senses. Of course.'_ I thought to myself, shooting a mild glare at Natsu. "Not another word, Dragneel." I warned him, as I turned back to head into the main hall, so we could leave through the front door. "Not one."

"Aye, sir!"

I spun around, looking between pink-haired teen and blue cat, but not actually sure which of them had spoken.

I chose to shoot suspicious looks at each of them before turning back to the entrance, calling over my shoulder as I went. "C'mon, Lucy – we gotta hurry if we want to catch the evening coach!"

The blonde looked up from where she had been rubbing the Key of the Maiden against her cheek, seeing that I was leaving and Natsu was close behind, Happy riding on his shoulder. "Ah! Wait up!" She called, jogging to catch up with us.

Natsu vaulted off the balcony without need of my assistance, while I floated Lucy and myself down easily enough.

As we passed through the space, I noticed that both the Vanish Brothers had made like their namesake and disappeared. I wondered what they would do now, for a moment – then I shook my head. I had my own things to think about – those two could take care of themselves.

For now, we had a client to meet.

* * *

We ended up not making any money from the Everlue job.

I was introduced to Kaby Melon and his wife, Veronica Melon, before Lucy revealed the secret of Daybreak to the elderly man, and a genuine smile of delight lifted my spirits as letters and punctuation burst forth from the book, swirling through the room like a tornado of light.

It was things like this that were truly magical for me – not the ability to simply move heavy things, or cause damage, like I could. No, to me, true magic was in displays of beauty, expressions of true emotion, and the mix of both that could only be brought about through a Mage manifesting their own heart, mind and soul through mixing their power with that of the world.

Something like this, I would never have seen if I hadn't come here to Earthland.

Kaby had been entirely ready to hand over the 2,000,000 Jewels reward money for the job – but Natsu had declined it, stating that the job had been to destroy the book, and that thus it had not been completed. I backed up him up, and though Lucy seemed to fall into a depression on hearing that, didn't speak up to try and persuade us otherwise. She just followed the Dragon Slayer out of the room alongside me, as Natsu called back over his shoulder that the couple should head home.

Thankfully we were in time to catch the evening wagon, and so we were on the road once more – back to Magnolia, and home.


	5. IV - Helical Motion

We made it back to Magnolia by about ten o'clock, after a wagon ride where Natsu and Happy endeavoured to use the words 'Indeed it's not' as much as they possibly could. Really, half the times it didn't make any real sense!

If it weren't for her inability to focus on anything other than the Key of the Maiden or the lack of any money being made from the Everlue job, which she switched between at a moment's notice, Lucy probably would have caught on – thankfully, she was distracted enough not to notice the two's innuendo.

Though, she probably caught the grins on their faces when she and I split off from the partners to go back to our respective homes.

We parted ways at Lucy's door, and I made my way inside, ate a quick meal and then took a look at my arm and side.

There was, as I'd expected, a pretty incredible bruise. It was a deep, mottled purple, throbbing a bit when I poked at it – but considering just how much energy must have been in that impact, I'd probably gotten off light. Or rather, my newfound magical resilience had helped deal with it.

I didn't have any painkillers – I hadn't thought to go looking for any medicine while I was out in Magnolia, and in Hargeon I'd never had anything minor enough to require it. Any injuries worth treating were taken care of by Amelia while I was trapped in her hospital. So, I just trusted in my body's ability to heal itself, and turned in.

* * *

After a good night's sleep, one which reduced my bruising to a colour much closer to red, I headed out into Magnolia. I did the rounds of the shops and markets there, searching in particular for flight aids.

Goggles were fairly easy to find – I actually ended up choosing what were basically a pair of sunglasses which used the wearer's magic to stay in place, which I liked more than simple goggles. The wind-shield idea, though, was more troublesome.

It took me a solid hour of searching to track down a store which sold enchanted clothing. A chat with the woman behind the counter led to me meeting with their main Artificer, apparently the title given to the Mages specialising in using magical tools to inscribe enchantments onto objects.

There were two ways to enchant something, it seemed. For an Ability Mage, it was basically casting a spell through their body and into the object – that made it single-use, and the majority of those Mages were highly limited in what they could accomplish that way. That actually gave me a few ideas, mostly revolving around my ability to render things weightless – but those were for a later time.

Far more impressive than anything I could manage were Holder Mages – their abilities were the ones which cast my mind back to Elder Scrolls and the Dresden Files.

Various magical implements, complex things made from strange metals, crystals and parts which seemed almost organic, had been invented at some point which allowed magic to be channelled onto objects in much the same fashion as a pen, using similar principles to Jutsu Shiki and Solid Script if I was to make a guess. Certain patterns drawn with those 'pens' could create magical effects. It was an art which was in wide demand, and required a lot of study as well as a steady hand and above-average intelligence.

My kind of person.

I chatted with Tanner, the Artificer, for a good fifteen minutes before getting down to what I wanted done. It was a new one for him – apparently magical flight was rarer than I'd expected, considering even _cats_ could do it here – but he assured me that he could whip up the design in a couple of days, minimum.

We set to bartering the price, a practice that still went on in Earthland despite its similarities to my own Earth. The end result was that I'd pay 100,000 Jewels in two instalments – one as a down payment, the other on completion.

With that done, I ate my lunch in a small restaurant off the street, enjoying the quiet ambience of the place, before I sought out a book store. Once there, I invested the remainder of the funds I'd brought with me in a set of Kemu Zaleon's collected works, smirking at the look on the clerk's face when I lifted the whole lot one-handed, the books remaining in a stack as if stuck together.

I spent the rest of the day with my feet up in my apartment, listening to the sounds of the street and flipping through volume after volume. They really were good books; they kinda reminded me of the Inheritance series, following their protagonist from his origins as a small-town nobody to a recognised icon. The major difference being, they put special emphasis on the type of Magic used – namely, that it was Lost.

It was interesting that there was still Magic in a magical world's fiction books – I'd kind of been expecting that the fiction here would be about a world _without_ magic. But no, instead they simply looked at rarer types. I suppose that meant that the people here still felt some wonder when it came to magic – something which gave me some hope for this world.

* * *

The next day, Lucy swung by in the late morning, knocking on the door. "Good morning, Declan."

"Morning, Lucy." I returned, glancing back inside the apartment. "Did you want some coffee or something? I'm afraid I've not got anything ready..."

The blonde shook her head. "No, it's not that – I'm heading into the Guild to look for a job, and I was wondering if you'd like to come along?"

I paused for a moment, then nodded amiably. "Sure. Just let me grab my coat and we'll be off."

I headed inside for the item in question, returning from by bedroom to find Lucy examining the pile of books, set on a table beside my armchair. "Inspired by that last job?" She asked, indicating the stories, and I nodded.

"Yep – they're just as good as you made them out to be, too."

The Mage's eyes started gleaming. "So, what's your favourite part so far?"

The conversation that question started continued out the door, then carried on as I locked up and we headed down the street.

* * *

I sat down at the bar where Mirajane was working while Lucy scanned the request board, muttering the job titles aloud to herself. I'd tried to describe the drink I'd been hooked on in Hargeon to the Take-Over Mage, and she'd eventually produced a bottle of the right stuff. Turns out it was called 'Mead Velour' – I had no idea what that meant, but Mira had assured me that it was non-alcoholic, so down the hatch it was.

Natsu was standing a bit back from Lucy along with a couple of other guys, reading the board from a distance, while Gray was drinking at a nearby table. I half-remembered him smoking, in the manga...but that hadn't made much sense to me. An Ice Mage smoking? Where was the logic?

One way or another, I reclined against the bar on my stool, taking a sip from my glass every now and then and simply letting the sound of Fairy Tail was over me. It was calming, in an odd way – with all the conversations going on, there was just a general low-level noise that went largely unnoticed in the way of a ticking clock.

"Man, there are so many types of request..." Lucy sighed, loud enough for Mira and I to hear her from the bar.

Mirajane chuckled to herself, then nodded. "Well, if you find one you like, bring it over here so I can take a look at it. Master Dreyer's out at a regular meeting of the Guild Masters, so I'm 'in charge' while he's gone." She waved a hand to indicate the bar, and my eyes followed the direction of the gesture, noting again the absence of any old men in jester outfits.

Next to me, Mirajane moved around the bar and was passed a Light-Pen from the large, round artist whose name I'd forgotten if I ever knew it.

She went on to explain to Lucy how the Magic Council was responsible for all the Guild Masters and, through them, Guilds themselves – thus, making them the ultimate authority on magic within Fiore.

As she spoke, Natsu was creeping up behind Lucy with a devious smirk on his face. When Mirajane got to how the Council was responsible for putting any Mage who broke the law on trial, he abruptly whispered in her ear, causing her to jump about a foot in the air with a yell.

Natsu and Happy laughed, while Lucy yelled at them, but I was frowning at my drink. I'd just thought of it...but those Mages I'd turned over to Captain Branston must have gone through the justice process, meaning they'd have passed across the Councils' desks. And if _that_ had happened...did they know about me?

And if the Council knew about me...then, did that mean _Jellal_ knew about me?

If he did, that meant any element of surprise I might represent in _that_ conflict was utterly null and void. Just the thought of being on that guy's radar... _that_ scared me. He'd pushed Natsu to the absolute limit, and almost killed Erza – though granted, she hadn't been in the best shape at that point.

His Magic, both Darkness and Celestial Body, was both powerful and incorporeal – meaning that, at my current level, I was about as much use as a water gun in a forest fire. Short of him actually trying to hit me with celestial bodies, the odds of me being able to effectively combat him were slim.

I was broken from my musings by Lucy's voice. "Well, it wasn't all me – Natsu and Declan fought the mercenaries, I only dealt with the Duke."

I looked up, finding that Gray was looking between Natsu and I from his seat, Loke standing beside him but paying more attention to Lucy than me. Natsu was standing by Lucy, grinning to himself.

I blinked a few times, before putting the dots together. "Ah...this is about Everlue, isn't it?"

Gray nodded. "Yeah...I'd heard there were a couple of mercenaries that got taken out, plus some kind of...gorilla?" He scrunched his face in confusion for a moment before shaking his head. "But yeah, rumour had it that it was Lucy who'd done it..."

I quirked my lips. "Oh, Lucy did great – while Natsu and I were punching things, she solved the mystery of Daybreak _and_ took out Duke Everlue in one hit."

Loke immediately started fawning over Lucy again, while she seemed half pleased by the compliment, and half annoyed at the result. Gray nodded to himself, then grinned. "Well, it's good to hear flame-brain's finally learning to share. He's stolen loads of fights over the years."

"What was that, bastard?!" The Dragon Slayer growled, getting right up in the other Mage's face. Gray glowered right back at him, not at all affected by the proximity.

"I _said_ , you're a fight-stealing, glory-hogging flame-brain bastar-!"

The tail end of Gray's sentence was cut off by a fist, as Natsu punched him in the face. Not one to waste an opportunity, while the Dragon Slayer was still extended, the Ice-Make User grabbed him by the arm, turned and _threw_ him over his shoulder even as he fell, sending the other man crashing to the ground.

I watched them battle back and forth on the floor in bemusement, finishing my drink before shaking my head. Glancing sideways, I was just in time to watch Loke fail utterly once again at making a pass at Lucy, before catching sight of the keys on her belt.

A half second later, he was out the door and running, so fast I could barely track his movements... and then he was back in only a few seconds, and what he said next spread across the whole Guild in seconds.

"GUYS, ERZA'S BACK!"

In a split second, the atmosphere in the Guild changed like someone had flicked a switch. The amiable, generally relaxed air of the Mages erupted into a full-on panic, and a flurry of activity burst out everywhere.

Natsu and Gray in particular froze completely for a moment, before launching themselves to their feet, each with one arm around the other's shoulders as they tried to hide any and all signs of aggression.

Lucy was gaping at them as I hopped up off my stool and walked over to her, various other Guild members checking their appearance and surroundings rapidly.

As they did so, I heard the first footstep – a loud, clanking sound from beyond the door, which immediately drew all attention, dead silence falling throughout the Guild Hall.

More followed, until the Guild's doors opened wide to admit one Erza Scarlet.

Her Heart Kreuz armour was simple, compared to her many other suits; its grey steel with off-centre yellow cross design nonetheless iconic. The breastplate, pauldrons and gauntlets were all at odds with her entirely unarmoured lower half, which was an above-knee-length blue skirt and knee-high black boots, the skirt held up by a brown belt, bearing the leather scabbard and sheathed sword that accompanied this armour.

Her features had probably been immortalised in marble _somewhere –_ if they hadn't, it would be a crying shame. Her shoulder-length hair was the bright red colour from which she had taken her name, her eyes a somewhat lighter brown than Lucy's.

And of course, literally overshadowing her, was the massive, bejewelled horn of a demon – which she was lifting effortlessly with one hand.

Sure, I could do the same thing – but she was pulling it off without any need to manipulate gravity, and _that_ was damn impressive.

She marched right through the Guild until she reached the centre, whereupon she set the massive body part down with a _crash_ that raised dust from the floor. She looked around, surveying the Guild as a queen might her kingdom, before turning to Mirajane.

"I've returned!" She called out, as if it weren't already obvious. "Is the Master here?"

Mirajane shook her head, gesturing to the empty spot at the bar. "No, he's out at the regular Guild Masters' meeting, Erza."

"Ah, I see..." Erza murmured, looking around again.

I watched, half in awe and half with amusement, as she casually told Gray that she had brought home the horn of the demon she'd subdued, since the townspeople had decorated it. I actually cracked a grin when she inquired whether or not it would be in the way, the guy she asked immediately launching into a panic.

That done, she cast her eyes around, zeroing in on one member of Fairy Tail after another, barking out orders as she did so. Mages scrambled to agree, and her laser-intensity focus eventually came to rest on Natsu and Gray when Happy pointed them out, the two Mages trying desperately to keep smiles on their faces as, beside me, Lucy looked on in open shock as the guild scrambled to comply with Erza's demands.

"Is she some kind of enforcer...?" She asked herself, and I chuckled.

"Well, I suppose you could say so," I considered. "She's one of the strongest Mages here, after all – scary enough to get Natsu and Gray in line, and powerful enough to back it up."

Lucy seemed to be wondering if _anyone_ was that powerful, until Mirajane spoke up. "Declan is right, Lucy. Natsu challenged her to a fight, long ago – she wiped the floor with him!"

The blonde's look of shock deepened, and Mirajane continued. "Then she beat up Gray for walking around without his clothes, and then she nearly killed Loke when he tried to hit on her!"

Lucy was shivering now as she looked at Erza, while I was merely grinning at watching the Ice and Fire Mages trying to get along for the short time until they were out of Erza's immediate line of sight.

"Anyway," Erza finally said, clearing her throat. "I'd normally talk to the Master about this, but since he's not here – Gray, Natsu!"

""Yes, Erza!""

 _'Wow, they actually answered in sync...'_

"I require your help on a mission! You'll come with me, I take it?" She phrased it like she was asking, yet Erza's entire bearing screamed that she expected nothing less than immediate and complete obedience.

Murmurs broke out all around about what Erza could possibly need more people for, a lot of people glancing over at the massive horn in the middle of the guild. At the same time, Natsu and Gray were sweating profusely, as Erza seemed to take their silence as assent and turned to go. "Well, we'll meet up at the station tomorrow – we'll talk about the mission then!"

Both Mages tried to protest that they hadn't agreed, but they were summarily ignored. Beside Lucy and I, Mirajane was biting her thumbnail, eyes wide. "I never thought this could happen..." She muttered, "but this just might be Fairy Tail's strongest team!"

Lucy seemed to finally realise that Gray _and_ Natsu were going to be on the same team, plus the woman terrifying enough to keep them in line around one another. Then, Mirajane turned to us, smiling in that beatific way of hers. "You two will be going with them, won't you?"

The blonde froze in place, turning robotically to face the bartender while I smirked into my drinkm though I raised an eyebrow above it. "Pardon, Mira?"

"Well, you two are on the same team as Natsu, right?" She asked, head tilted. "So that means you'll be following your teammate, doesn't it? I mean, Natsu and Gray don't really get on – someone's got to keep the peace, don't they?"

Lucy froze, then let out a long groan, sinking to the floor. "Why did I ever agree to be on this team..." She asked herself, head hung low.

I chuckled, shrugging as she glanced up at me. "We had our own reasons, Lucy. But I guess they all boil down to 'Natsu' in the end."

The blonde sighed, before nodding. "Yeah, I guess they do..."

"C'mon," I extended a hand to her, which she took and used to rise to her feet with ease as her body lightened momentarily. "Looks like we've gotta prep for another trip."

* * *

Lucy and I arrived at Magnolia's train station about ten the next morning, my teammate with her usual satchel while I had a backpack slung over my duster with a change of clothes and a book to read.

Just the essentials.

When we spotted them, Gray and Natsu were in the middle of an argument, as was to be expected, and Erza had yet to appear – I could almost read the regret in Lucy's eyes as she considered all the things she _could_ have been doing instead of this.

"So you guys are coming too?" Happy greeted us, seeing as neither of the two Mages had noticed us approach. We both nodded, though Lucy fielded the reply with a half-moan, half-whine.

"Yeah…Mira asked us to play mediators, and I couldn't say no to her…" She shot a look sideways at me, and I shrugged.

"Hey, I'm your teammate, remember? That means I've gotta back you up." I looked over to where Natsu and Gray were almost forehead-to-forehead, leaning at nearly forty five degrees and growling at one another. "…Even for things like this."

Happy smirked, but a glare from Lucy served to keep him quiet as she shot another exasperated/frustrated look at the arguing duo…and then started smirking herself, before turning around and waving at no-one. "Good morning, Erza!"

At the mere mention of the name, both Gray and Natsu immediately cut off their argument in favour of slinging an arm around one another's shoulders, smiles fixed in place as they proclaimed their eternal friendship.

Lucy immediately burst out laughing, and I was only a bit behind her – I wasn't quite as raucous, but I found myself chuckling none the less. The two Mages stopped their act when they heard us, turning around and looking aghast at us. ""You tricked us!"" They cried as one, and Lucy started giggling again.

"I guess you guys really _can_ get along!" She managed to get out around her mirth, and I chuckled for a moment or two more before subsiding. Gray went moping off to the side, apparently depressed at having been tricked so easily, while Natsu blinked a few times when he took note of our presence.

"Lucy? Declan? What are you guys doing here?"

Lucy's eyebrow twitched immediately. "You only notice us _now?"_

Before she could really get going though, a familiar voice caught all our attention. "My apologies for keeping you waiting, everyone."

All five of us turned around, and came face to face with Erza Scarlet's baggage…train? Airliner? Freight ship? Well, those were exaggerations, but _man_ – why did someone who used Requip Magic need _that much luggage?_

My disbelief was writ wide on Lucy's face as she gaped, while Gray and Natsu had already scrambled into their 'friendship genjutsu' as I'd decided to call it, and thus weren't any use to anyone for the moment. The blonde stared incoherently at Erza's belongings, as the redhead seemed to take note of Lucy and I. "You two…both of you were in Fairy Tail yesterday, weren't you?"

I nudged Lucy while she simultaneously blinked, shaking herself out of her stupor and offering a quick bow. "I'm Lucy, a new member of the guild – Mira asked me to tag along, so I'll try and make myself useful."

Erza's eyes swept over my teammate to me, and I bowed in turn. "I'm Declan Ross, another new member. I'm Lucy's teammate, so where she goes, I follow. I hope I can be of use." There – that sounded good, didn't it?

Well, one way or another, the redhead nodded thoughtfully, looking back and forth between Lucy and I. "It's good to see new faces – I'm Erza, if you didn't know…" She studied us a bit more closely. "I see – you must be the duo that the guild were talking about. You defeated a mercenary gorilla, I hear?"

Lucy slumped, and I let out a bit of a sigh. "That's…not _precisely_ right…" I muttered, while Lucy said something to much the same effect beside me.

Erza didn't seem to hear, since she was nodding to herself. "Well, I'd normally say this job was going to be a bit risky – but with your performance so far, I'd say you'll be fine!"

Lucy blanched a touch at that, probably wondering just what could be risky to someone even Natsu and Gray feared, and how dangerous it would be for her. I patted her on the shoulder, offering her a grin. "Hey, it's fine Lucy." I glanced sideways at the other Mages, seeing that they were ignoring us. "You took out the Vulcan _and_ Everlue. You're plenty strong – plus you'll have Natsu, Gray, Erza, Happy and I along. This'll be a piece of cake!"

Lucy's brown eyes stared back at me for a moment, as if searching for the truthfulness of my encouragement, before she nodded firmly. "Yeah…yeah, I'll be fine. I'm a Fairy Tail Mage – there's no way I can lose to anything!"

"That's the spirit!" I grinned, patting her shoulder once again before turning back to the others, just in time to see Natsu challenge Erza to a duel once the mission was over, much to Gray's horror.

"ALRIGHT!" The Dragon Slayer proclaimed, spontaneously catching fire with the force of his enthusiasm. "LET'S DO THIS!"

* * *

Predictably enough, that enthusiasm only lasted until the train started to move – at that point, Natsu immediately fell into a near-catatonic state from motion sickness. Really, it was kind of sad to watch – he was so powerful, but any means of transport other than his feet or Happy did him in.

Hmm. I wonder…if he thought of me as Nakama, would that mean that transporting him with my magic wouldn't make him ill…?

Before I could think to ask, Erza let out a gentle sigh...and promptly KO'd him with a blow to the stomach, lying his now vacant face on her lap. The disconnect between her kindly demeanour and her violent actions was…

Actually, it kinda reminded me of Lucy.

I glanced over at the blonde, who was sitting next to me. Gray was on my left, Lucy having taken the window seat on my right, while Erza and Natsu were on the opposite bench. The blonde met my eye, looked over to where Erza was, and probably noticed when I rubbed the back of my head – where she'd kicked me into the floor the other day – without really thinking about it.

I stopped abruptly when she got a dangerous glint in her eye, coughing into my hand and looking the other way as innocently as I could manage, drawing a satisfied exhalation from my teammate.

When she was done establishing her dominance, Lucy looked over to where Erza and Natsu were seated, frowning a little. "Thinking about it, I haven't actually seen any magic but Natsu and Declan's in the guild…" She looked specifically at Erza, eyebrows rising slightly in curiosity. "Say, Erza, what kind of magic do you use?"

The redhead chuckled, as Happy proclaimed cheerily that her magic was beautiful – and always drew a lot of blood. "My magic isn't anything very special…" She demurred, and I nearly scoffed. Sure, the Magic itself was _kinda_ tame compared to some other varieties – but the way she used it more than made up for that. "Really, I think Gray's is far more impressive."

I leaned back a bit while glancing to my left, Lucy looking across me to the dark-haired Mage, who looked up and seemed to note our attention. With a slight huff, he pushed out his left hand palm-up and fingers splayed, then struck it with his right fist – like a hammer on an anvil. The air around us abruptly dropped in temperature as a slight wind picked up, before Gray lifted his fist away to reveal an icy sculpture of the Fairy Tail emblem.

Lucy looked at it in awe for a moment, her eyes sparkling happily, and I myself smiled. Seeing Magic used for something constructive, for something that really was quite beautiful like this – and in particular, seeing Lucy's reaction to it – always made my abrupt appearance in this world worthwhile.

A moment later, Lucy started glancing between Natsu and Gray, before understanding dawned. "Ah-HA!" She proclaimed, pointing at first Gray, then Natsu. "Ice Magic, and Fire Magic! _That's_ why you don't get along!" She covered her mouth with one hand, giggling. "You boys are so straightforward…"

Erza blinked, raising an eyebrow at Gray. "Is that true, Gray?"

The Ice Mage grimaced, folding his arms and looking away. "Like it matters anyway." He muttered, before shaking his head and turning back. "Anyway, Erza. Why are we here? You _never_ ask for help, so what's going on?"

The redhead nodded. "Right – I'll explain."

Erza recounted her story quickly. She'd been coming home from her job, when she'd overheard a conversation in a bar in Onibas, between a group of Mages. They'd been talking about some kind of Magic or artefact called 'Lullaby' which had apparently been sealed away, leaving the Mages unable to reach it. One of their number though, had told them to tell 'Eligor' that he would have Lullaby back to him in three days.

"Lullaby…" Gray mused to himself.

"A kind of Magic which puts people to sleep?" Lucy asked, and Erza folded her arms with a frown.

"I don't know…but if it was sealed, it must either _be_ or _contain_ a powerful Magic of some sort."

I spoke up. "So, if we're chasing after these guys, that must mean that they weren't just doing a job?"

"Indeed," Erza agreed. "It took me a while, but eventually I remembered the name 'Eligor' – 'Shinigami Eligor', the Ace of Eisenwald Guild, who earned the nickname 'God of Death' by fulfilling assassination requests despite the Magic Council pronouncing them illegal.

"That man almost single-handedly got Eisenwald re-classified as a Dark Guild six years ago."

At that point we finally pulled into the station, and as we disembarked I gave Natsu a long look – before grabbing him by the back of his waistcoat and hoisting him to dangle down my back in a parody of a Japanese student carrying a satchel.

With my cargo secured, I followed the others out of the train as Lucy asked why Eisenwald had been ousted from the ranks of the sanctioned Guilds, but hadn't been punished.

"Oh, they _were_ punished." Erza assured her. "Their Guild Master was arrested, and Eisenwald itself was ordered to disband immediately." She let out a quick burst of air in a 'tch' sound. "Though of course, being a Dark Guild, _that_ didn't stop them functioning."

Lucy stared at Erza for a long moment, and I moved forward to pat her on the shoulder, offering a grin that I _hoped_ was encouraging when I did so. Her response was a smaller expression, but she held her ground even as Erza clenched one of her fists across from us.

"It was a failure on my part – if I'd remembered the name Eligor back in that bar..." An abrupt sense of _danger_ started radiating off the woman, magical power raising a low breeze as it readied itself for use in response to its user's anger. " _I could have made them into a blood offering..._ "

Lucy and I both swallowed audibly, and I felt Natsu squirm where I was still holding him over my shoulder. Thankfully for our nerves, Gray spoke up, quelling the impending Doom that was radiating off the swords...spears...hammers...weapons-woman.

"Yeah, if it had only been the ones at the scene you could've taken them out no problem, Erza." He commented, hands in his pockets as he stood nearby. "But even you would be pushed taking on the entire Guild at once."

Erza sighed, nodding. "Still – this Magic called 'Lullaby' that they've got their hands on...I'm sure they're plotting something. This is a matter...that we can't afford to overlook."

She turned back to the rest of us, face set in determination. "We're going to march on Eisenwald."

Gray smirked, while beside me Lucy shivered somewhat. I, personally, felt like rubbing my hands together in anticipation – really, I'd probably become far too happy to leap into a fray, but at this point it was more a help than a hindrance anyway.

Behind me, Natsu squirmed some more, so I brought my arm back around and held him up in front of me like I might a kitten. The green in his complexion was basically gone, and he looked far better than he had on the train, so I placed the Dragon Slayer on his feet as the train started to move away behind us.

He staggered back several steps at first, and I kept an eye on him...but as I did so, I glanced at one of the train's windows, and caught sight of a haircut like a pineapple above a collared shirt.

Kageyama's eyes were on our group as a whole, not one of us in particular, and I kept my head directed toward Natsu – only my eyes were fixed on the Shadow Mage.

As the train pulled away, and Natsu got himself back under control, I stepped quickly up so I was next to Lucy. "Hey, Lucy?"

The blonde glanced to me, probably noticing I looked a bit more serious than usual. "What is it, Declan?"

I pursed my lips as if I was being pensive – and really, I was, just not for the reasons my teammates might expect. We still needed to go after that train, and I needed a legitimate reason for us to pursue it. With that in mind, I turned to the most well-read person among us – and probably the most intelligent, too, not to disparage the others; they just didn't exactly have... _normal_ childhoods or educations.

Hell, _did_ Fiore have an education system? Or was it all apprentices?

Resolving to ask about that later, I met Lucy's eyes. "Lucy, is it just me, or have you ever heard of a flute, topped with a skull that has three eyes?"

Lucy stopped dead immediately, staring at me and starting to shake slightly. Natsu, who was walking behind us and rubbing his stomach a bit, looked up and saw us. "Lucy, Declan, what's up?"

His voice attracted Gray and Erza's notice, both of them immediately focussing on Lucy, who was trembling slightly. "That's meant to be a story..." She muttered, looking back up at me. "Declan, why are you asking?"

I turned to observe the train as it pulled further away, indicating it with a nod of my head. "Because just as the train was pulling out, I saw someone holding it in the window."

Lucy paled further, muttering to herself. "Death...sleep... _Lullaby..._ " Her head shot up, and she spoke loudly enough for all of us to hear. "A flute with a three-eyed skull – _that's_ Lullaby; the Cursed Song of Death!"

Erza immediately grew more attentive, while Gray and Natsu both started thinking – probably trying to remember any stories they might have heard.

Lucy just continued her explanation, glancing at me as she did so. "It's something I've only read about...but among Forbidden Magics, there's such a thing as Death Magic, right?"

Erza nodded. "Yes - there are curses that cause instant death in the target, known as Death Magic."

Lucy's features grew serious, remaining tinged with anxiety but now trying to convey the nature of the situation. "Lullaby is worse than that. Because _everyone_ who hears its music dies _._ "

I took up there as Lucy was letting the implications sit in. "Death carried through sound – all it would take is one good amplifier, and Eisenwald might even be able to kill an entire town in _seconds_."

That most definitely drove the point home, and Erza immediately called for us to follow her as she ran for a smaller building by the main station, her luggage shoved into the area with lockers for belongings as we stampeded past.

I felt sorry for whoever had to deal with _that_ \- though not sorry enough not to toss my own backpack at the pile as we ran past.

We were on a mission, and Erza didn't take no for an answer from the man behind the counter as she rented a magical car (they had a long-winded name for it, but screw it - it was a car), throwing Jewels at him as she came running back out and immediately jumping onto the front of one model in particular, as Lucy, Natsu, Happy and I piled in the back...and Gray went on the roof. Because...Gray?

Putting that little oddity aside, all of us inside the cab were shoved back into our seats as Erza accelerated madly, sending us rocketing along the path toward the next city.

I frowned a bit, watching the world go by, and closed my eyes momentarily to better focus on my Magic. The amalgamated gravitational fields of Natsu, Lucy, Happy, Erza and I were the focus of my attention, as I started focussing on carefully reducing our weights.

I didn't dare do Gray – not when gravity was probably the only thing holding him on the roof of the car.

It took a few seconds - Lucy, Happy and I's gravity dropped quickly to where I wanted it, with little resistance, but Natsu took a little longer - his magical power was too far beyond mine for me to affect him without him allowing it to happen, so I had to keep trying until he allowed the change to take place.

Erza took a full five seconds - and during that time, I understood exactly how Pippin must have felt when he looked right into the Eye of Sauron.

Still, the sensation of rapidly approaching doom died away as the Requip Mage's Magic allowed my interference, and I was free to let out a deep breath when I opened my eyes again, shaking my head before turning my focus to the car itself.

On Earth, automotive technology had advanced so far that even things like gravity, the flow of air and friction with the ground were integral parts of a car's performance, as it was designed to make use of those variables to improve its own performance.

Here in Earthland, auto-mobiles could only be used by about ten percent of the population, and the world itself was seemingly somewhere in the middle ages or something – I didn't do History, so I wasn't sure exactly what time period was being reflected here in Earthland other than 'before microwaved dinners.'

As a result, where if I'd tried messing with the weight of a car on Earth I might have ruined its performance, here? We'd picked up noticeable speed when I basically negated the weight of four humans, one in steel armour; when I started reducing the weight of the vehicle itself until I felt that we'd be doing an E.T. impression at the first pothole if I went any further, we probably broke Earthland's vehicular land-speed record.

Which might not have been very impressive, considering the competition, but still boded well since it meant we might yet reach the station two towns over quickly enough to confront Eisenwald, perhaps even stop Eligor from escaping.

But bad, because...well...

Natsu.

Who was currently hanging out the back window, looking thoroughly miserable as both Lucy and I kept a hand on his shoulders to prevent him falling out.

Ah, well – you can't win 'em all.

* * *

We only stopped at the first station long enough to hear that Eisenwald had embarked there not too long ago, and then we were off again.

It made me think of a Top Gear episode, racing a car against a train – except the people on that train were looking to commit mass-murder, and our team were slightly more effective than Hammond, Clarkson and May when combating a terrorist organisation.

Gray and Erza held a shouted conversation around the time we reached Oshibana, while I re-applied the usual gravity of the car once we were within city limits. The roads to get here didn't have a lot of sharp turns or manoeuvring required, but here Erza needed all the traction she could get to not hit anything at top speed.

Lucy and I were still patting Natsu's shoulders comfortingly, and when we came screeching to a halt I let natural gravity return for Erza, Happy, Lucy and I – Natsu, I just swung up over my back like I had before.

We disembarked the car quickly, approaching the station at a dead run. Station personnel were shouting into megaphones (or the magical equivalent, anyway) about a derailed train, but we already knew that was a cover story.

Erza made to start pushing through the crowd, but I had a better alternative. Pointing my arm to help me focus, I swept a wave of my magic through the people in front of us...who all started drifting lightly off the ground, inciting mass panic and clutching among the afflicted.

We ran beneath the cloud of people, who all found themselves lowered slowly to the ground behind us as my magic ran down and ceased affecting their weight, and Erza immediately got a hold of the first station hand she found...before headbutting him unconscious when he didn't immediately give her a status report.

Lucy, Gray and I watched as she repeated the process a few more times, as the blonde made a shaky observation. "I guess she doesn't have time for people who hesitate..."

Gray nodded sagely, looking just as shaky. "You just learned a valuable lesson about Erza Scarlet. Take it to heart."

I myself wondered if I was at all strong enough yet to deal with a blow like that, while shifting Natsu where he was draped over my back. I caught the tail end of the garbled report one station hand gave to Erza, basically saying that a platoon of the local military had yet to return from inside, meaning the battle was likely still ongoing.

Erza waved one hand forward, and we followed on behind as she went running inside.

The stairs within were scattered liberally with members of the military, most of them bloody and still. Kneeling down beside one of them revealed a pulse, while Gray and Erza repeated my actions, nodding back to me.

Eisenwald were probably in too much of a hurry to ensure their opponents were dead.

Still, Gray called for us to hurry, so we upped our pace until we emerged onto the platform...where we came face to face with Eisenwald.

There were probably somewhere in the range of fifty to eighty people there – a decent crowd in any case, and all Mages, as evidenced by dint of their membership to the Guild. Sitting above them all, scythe resting casually on his shoulder, was a man in tattered, dark-blue hakama trousers tied with what looked like a tan bed-sheet, a black scarf around his neck and white white bandages along his forearms leading to black gloves.

His hair was a shade of pale blue-grey, while his eyes were just as dark as the eyeliner designs around them. Inked across his torso and shoulders were designs in dark blue that reminded me of snakes or vines – something creepy, at any rate.

"I knew you'd come..." The man declared, "Fairy Tail."

Beside me, Lucy let out a short, nervous bark of laughter, wondering aloud why there were so many people. Gray and Erza were both impassive, ready for battle, and I myself was tensing for the fight. I jostled the Dragon Slayer on my back, hissing under my breath since I knew he would hear it. "Natsu, pull yourself together – you'll miss the fight if you're still like this."

I could feel his movements becoming stronger and more numerous, as Erza spoke up. "You're Eligor, aren't you?"

The man didn't reply beyond a smirk, which just seemed to piss Erza off more. Her hair started moving around as if on its own, as her voice became even harder. "What are you planning, Eligor? Depending on your answer...I might have to make you _pay_ for it."

Now, if I was being stared down by a woman with hair like blood with a life of its own, plate armour, and a look on her face that could light a candle at twenty paces, I would probably be rightly cautious. If it was Erza Scarlet, I would likely run for my life - for all the good it would do, anyway.

What I _wouldn't_ do, is smirk even more. "We're just fooling around;" Eligor declared. "We haven't had any jobs to do, so we decided to stave off boredom."

Eisenwald erupted into laughter, and the man nicknamed 'Shinigami' gathered his magic, lifting into the air on a current of wind and laughing down at us. "Don't you understand yet?" He asked, taking a position as if he was seated in mid-air. "Let me ask - what do they have inside a train station?"

As he asked, Eligor swooped around to a tall pole, with four speakers affixed to the top. His Guildmates were still chuckling at us with cocky smirks on their faces; but Erza and Gray were refusing to play his game, Lucy was psyching herself up (I hoped) and Natsu was getting himself together now – I placed him on his feet, and he started taking deep breaths, getting used to his own weight again.

Erza's eyes followed his path - and in doing so, they latched onto the speakers Eligor had just flown past. "You bastard...ARE YOU PLANNING TO BROADCAST LULLABY?"

Gray and Lucy both loosed exclamations beside me, while Natsu was still recovering and Eligor burst into laughter as I myself oriented myself in a particular direction and bent my knees slightly, magic pouring into me like a waterfall into a river.

Eligor started monologuing, hanging upside down in the air as he went on and on about how he was going to inflict the punishment of death on the people gathering outside – the people who were oblivious to how others had lost their rights.

Basically, he was going to slaughter innocents because he was a dick and got shafted by life, the universe and everything due to his own actions.

I had absolutely no sympathy – and I proved it in the best way I knew how by breaking the oldest rule in the great book of story-telling.

I interrupted his monologue.

I launched myself in the middle of his speech, flying through my best gravity corridor right into his surprised, upside-down face – whereupon I flipped forward, bringing both my heels down onto his exposed stomach hard enough to bend him double in the other direction.

Gravity took hold of us both and then pulled _hard_ , and we accelerated to the ground far too quickly to be natural. Eligor still couldn't breathe since my feet were crushing most of his internal organs, and didn't manage to get his magic together in time to save himself as I flipped back off of him before we touched down, my own fall cushioned by the same force which had aided it.

There was an almighty crash as the 'shinigami' hit the ground and raised dust from the stone floor, his scythe clattering away as his eyes whited out.

Dead silence filled the room for a long moment, and I used the time to reach out and snatch the object which had fallen from the man's belt on his fall as quickly as possible. Lullaby in my hand, I then crouched and launched myself backwards, coming to a landing among my teammates.

That was Eisenwald's cue to roar in outrage as one, Kageyama acting first. He fell into a three-point crouch, his shadow extending madly. It didn't go for me though – nor Erza, or Gray.

Lucy flinched as the shadow came in, not expecting the attack at all, and wrapped her head in her arms to try and ward off an incoming blow – one which never came, as a flaming hand tore straight through the dark construct, ending the Magic.

Natsu Dragneel pulled himself to his full height, sickness forgotten as he focussed on the person who had tried to sneak-attack his teammate.

In front of him, Erza and I both smirked, while Gray let out an exasperated sigh and Lucy smiled widely. Across from us, Kageyama looked torn between pissed and terrified, while most of his Guild were charging various magical techniques or drawing weapons, Eligor himself standing up – if a bit unsteadily.

"Huh – you're pretty tough for someone who looks like he's never left his mother's basement, aren't you?" I asked, idly examining the object in my hand as I did so. Ugh – I could _feel_ the evil on this thing. I'd need a shower when I got home.

"You... _bastard..._ " Eligor growled, his scythe flying into his hand as I jammed Lullaby into an inside pocket of my coat and laughed maliciously, quickly followed by Natsu and Gray.

"There now," I declared, turning back to our opponents. "Since the actual danger's over...how about we take out the trash now?"

Natsu cracked his knuckles, a cold mist started to rise around Gray, a sword appeared in Erza's hand and Lucy reached for her belt, taking out a key with a fierce glower on her face. It seemed being in a group as she was with us was more than enough to give her confidence.

I personally was staring down Eligor, who was staring back at me. He was _hopping_ mad, I could tell that much – in fact, I was getting a rather Deathly Hallows feel from this little stare-down.

I started walking forward, and the 'shinigami' growled something to his men before striding forward himself, scythe in hand and bloodthirsty grimace on his face.

"Looks like this guy's on me," I called back to the others, before turning back to face my opponent.

We eyed each other for a long moment, then Eligor kicked off the floor into a horizontal charge, and the fight was on.

* * *

The jagged blade of the scythe came at me from the side, and I avoided it with a leap straight up. I didn't bother coming down, instead rising into the air as Eligor followed me on a wind current. The scythe came around again, and I tumbled backwards beneath it, lashing out with a kick as I went.

Eligor swiped out with one hand, forming a Magic circle and a burst of wind that halted my limb and sent me careening off backwards. I came to a halt quickly enough, upright and facing my opponent, who was growling at me in mid-air.

"You bastard fly!" He yelled, brandishing his weapon with a manic gleam in his eye.

 _'Oh – so he's going to rant while we fight, huh?'_ Well, Fairy Tail battles _were_ about 60% banter/philosophical discussions/personal histories, thinking about it. Actually, a fight without some kind of debate going on was pretty rare. _'Well, it'd be rude to waste an opportunity so freely given...'_

While Eligor started yelling about the many and varied ways in which he was going to kill me for messing with his plans (he didn't even bother concealing his plan – just started screaming about how all the Guild Masters needed to die because of the 'wrongs' they'd done to him), I floated closer to the wall, placing my hands against it and focussing without taking my eyes from Eligor.

Gravity flared around my hands and part of the wall, then with a sound like...well, like a wall falling down, a large section of it ripped free and tore apart in the conflicting pulls of a half-dozen warped gravitational fields, leaving only powdered rock. That rock was quickly pulled onto my clenched fists and up my forearm, stopping an inch before my elbow and leaving thick stone gauntlets in place of flesh.

"-now die!" Eligor finished up, bringing up his hand and gesturing with it, forming a Magic circle. **"Stormbringer!"**

The wind started to spiral around his hand, its speed rising exponentially until in the space of seconds, a full-blown tornado lunged forward horizontally, funnel open like a mouth as it reached for me.

It was more reflex than logical choice that had me cross my arms over my chest in a block, but I had enough sense to focus on remaining in one place. When the Stormbringer reached me, I expected the vortex to try and pull me in multiple directions at once - instead, it was more like being hit with a freight train, or entering one of my gravity corridors.

My own acceleration kicked in the moment I started flying backwards, making the difference between my impact with the wall being bone-shattering and simply painful. My right side in particular flared up something fierce, protesting getting almost the same treatment twice within as many days, while my back made its displeasure known as well.

I made a note to myself to just _dodge_ from now on, then got to my feet standing on the wall.

I glared at Eligor, who glared right back at me – probably affronted at my refusal to drop dead on his command.

When I turned and began running up the wall, he immediately started launching blades of wind at me - I could feel the rush of air passing me all around as I moved, quickly forgoing actual limb-based travel for a slight hover. I zig-zagged on my way up, making it to the ceiling unscathed. Once I was there, I fell into my preferred three-point crouch before launching – seemingly directly at Eligor.

As I'd expected he would, the Mage brought up his hand, forming another powerful blast of air that would have halted me in my tracks at the least.

Thank God this guy was predictable, at the very least.

Bringing my legs up and my torso down sent me into a rotation much like a wheel while I switched my flight path to take me over the onrushing wind. I couldn't see Eligor's face due to my spinning, but I hoped it was worth it as I got inside his personal space and unloaded all the momentum of my spin into a heel-kick.

He yelled out as my foot hit his shoulder, some mix of disrupted concentration and pure force sending him hurtling back toward the ground for the second time that day.

This time he recovered before impact, rising back into the air while clutching his injured shoulder. He offered me another hate-filled glare, and I just punched my two stony gauntlets together.

Clearly taking the gesture as a challenge, the Wind Mage cast his scythe aside and crossed his arms over his chest, head reared back and yelling as the air in the room started being sucked towards him. I held my position with a modicum of effort, though I heard the noise from below us ramping up as the currents played merry havoc with the fighters.

" **Storm Mail!"** Eligor announced, his form blurred and only recognisable as humanoid behind the wall of tight, high-velocity air currents surrounding his form.

Idly, I wondered how he could possibly breath in there – surely the vacuum created by what was basically a centralised hurricane should suffocate him?

Then again, Magic.

Eligor came flying forward, and I went to meet him, rearing back one fist for an experimental blow.

The other Mage raised one hand to catch the attack, and it slammed home with all the imparted momentum of my acceleration. Eligor shifted back a metre or so in the air, but I found myself on the worse end – glancing at my gauntlet revealed that his wind currents had torn away a good chunk of the stone I'd formed it from, apparently overcoming the gravitational field I was employing to keep it in place.

That made punching him more difficult, I had to concede.

I placed my fists together again, this time dissolving and then re-forming the fields surrounding my gauntlets, allowing the material to re-settle as it had been before the impact – though thinner.

Eligor had started up some maniacal laughter; probably now convinced that I couldn't hurt him.

Well, it certainly appeared that I wasn't going to be dealing with him in my preferred manner. I was no Natsu; I didn't want to risk taking the kind of punishment he could shrug off. Natsu had taken a Stormbringer and immediately got back up without seeming to feel it - I was _definitely_ feeling it, and considering trying to just sleep on thin air for a while.

Shelving those thoughts for another time, I backed away several metres, bringing up my arms on either side of me, focussing as he made a 'come at me bro' gesture with his open arms, obviously daring me to try again.

So I did – just not in the way he was thinking.

The first things to rise were the lightest – stray leaves, dust, wrappers. Then came the trash cans, followed quickly by seats, benches and discarded luggage.

All of it had been pushed to the sides of the station by Eisenwald, and now it all rose into the air, pulled into a hover beside me. I couldn't control this many things individually – not without more practice. But attracting it en-mass, without any fine control?

I could manage that.

The end result was that nearly everything not nailed down or living to be found on the platform (except the train itself) was hovering on either side of me like malformed wings, and Eligor's 'come-at-me' gesture had been exchanged for an immediate switch to full-out attack.

He spun in place, launching razor-sharp wind blades that, thankfully, glowed with his magic – otherwise there'd have been no dodging them.

As it was, he was barely aiming – probably since he was spinning in place and therefore couldn't see very well. Actually, how well could he even see in the Storm Mail? Surely the distortion of the world looking in was the same going out?

One way or another, I evaded the worst of it – in a three-dimensional battlefield, I only had to go up or down, occasionally spinning in place to let one pass by me rather than over or under me.

Still, despite the relatively small movements the constant dodging of lethal projectiles wore at me, and I instead chose to implement the rest of my plan, gaining impetus when I felt a burning line inscribe itself on my left shin as I messed up an evasion.

Mentally switching my focus to the hovering fields of debris on either side of me, I brought my arms forwards again. The clouds of debris followed, creating a single mass when I combined the fields, forming a shield more than capable of soaking up Eligor's wind blades.

Here came the tricky part.

I grimaced as I started twisting the wide-area field, almost closing my eyes to focus better. Gravity was meant to move in a single direction – the relative 'down' of its progenitor mass. It was by definition an attractive force. What I was doing, was basically bastardised helical motion with a gravitational field – a constant horizontal speed with a constantly varying direction.

It was kind of like trying to twist a paper-clip into a spring – possible yes, but when you've only got your fingers, the end product isn't exactly pretty, and it's painful to make work. Not to mention, the metal you're using isn't suited to the purpose at all.

But as I watched, the cloud of debris started to spiral, moving faster and faster as anything with mass is wont to do in a gravitational field and I felt that it was so, _totally_ worth it.

I heard Eligor from the other side of my rapidly rotating, and now elongating, debris field – the sound I'd been fairly sure was coming for a while now.

"Damn brat – don't think you can beat me! Blow away in the wind! **Emera Baram!** "

The wind howled from the other side of my attack, loud enough to drown out all other sounds, and I took my cue.

My Magic circle sprang to life above my palm, quickly expanding until its circumference matched that of the rapidly-rotating, conical mass of debris in front of me.

"I never thought I'd actually get to use this..." I muttered to myself, not thinking much about the words as the gravity corridor built up and started to accelerate me and my attack forwards.

The Emera Baram hit quickly, slamming into the corridor of my Magic and the spiralling debris at the same time with enough force to force me and my attack backwards. I grit my teeth and 'pushed' harder, hearing my heartbeat in my ears as I forced more and more magical power into moving forward, ramping up the power of the gravitational field as fast as possible. **"Giga..."**

First I stopped, as my growing speed drew equal with that of the Emera Baram. Then, I started moving forward, going faster and faster as I overcame Eligor's ultimate attack. My grimace turned into a smirk; Eligor's wind had some impressive speed, and as a result it hit hard – but its speed was constant until giving out.

My gravity _accelerated_ – and that was the deciding factor. **"Drill..."**

I looked through the dust, luggage and furniture composing my attack, making out the figure of Eligor as he desperately tried to summon enough wind to hold me back. I cocked my fist back, my entire body tensing to move.

He should have just run.

" **BREAKER!"**

My punch flew, the magically formed drill met the hurricane winds of the Storm Mail, and the wind currents in the room immediately got shot to hell. The collision of the two vastly different rotations threw off the delicate balance of Eligor's technique, causing it to explode in one massive blast of decompressed air.

The Breaker wasn't using wind currents, though – gravity gave no shits about the wind.

What must have been at least three-quarters of a tonne of material met Eligor's torso like the fist of God before all exploding forwards as I released the field, and the leader of Eisenwald was batted out of the air like a fly to corkscrew through the room and collide with a wall – which he immediately demolished. He broke the one after that too, and the next, eventually piercing the outer wall the long way in a shower of bricks and sliding to a halt outside the station.

I followed somewhat sluggishly in the air, touching down just at the first hole in the wall to try and conserve my rapidly-dwindling magical power. Tramping through the demolition, I came into the open air to find the Mage lying in the street, eyes blank and mouth open in a soundless scream.

Tiredly wandering over to him, I made sure he was still breathing – which indeed he was. Honestly, magic was a pretty incredible thing, to have let him survive a hit like that.

His ribs, though, probably hadn't been so lucky.

I let out a long sigh, falling into a seated position by the Mage and turning my face to the sky, enjoying the breeze in my hair.

I noted absently that my gauntlets had dissolved at some point when I stopped focussing on their gravitational field. _That_ reminded me that I'd made several holes in the walls of a major train station, and I let out a low groan.

Granted, it wasn't as bad as completely obliterating Guild Masters' annual meeting venue – but still, Lucy and I were meant to be the 'subtle' ones.

I'd probably have to start work on more techniques that didn't involve tearing chunks out of the environment for indoors combat, but for now I was just waiting.

About three minutes later or so, Lucy stepped out of the holes in the wall, looking over and finding me quickly. "Hey, Declan!"

I looked over to her, waving in greeting as she approached, keeping a wary eye on Eligor as she came. Once she reached me, she looked back to me, smiling. "That was pretty incredible, Declan – you should have seen the looks on those guys' faces when you beat this guy!"

I could imagine it, and when I did I couldn't help but chuckle. "Man, I wish I could've." I glanced back at Eligor. "I should probably get this guy back with the others – are the guards coming?"

I went to get up, then blinked when Lucy offered a hand. I took it gratefully, flaring my Magic a bit to make sure I didn't pull her over, before reaching down and grabbing Eligor to sling him over my shoulder in a fireman's carry.

Normally, I'd just hang him on my back as I did Natsu – but I was trying not to use much magical power at the moment, since I could feel mine was running low, and I needed to rest before I felt comfortable doing much else than quick, low-cost applications.

"They are," Lucy confirmed. "Erza told one of the station attendants to go and get them, so they'll arrive shortly."

"Good to hear." I sighed as we emerged onto the platform and took a look around.

The place was, for lack of a better adjective, utterly _trashed_. There were icy sculptures and patches on the floor all over the place, and several Mages had been frozen solid to a greater or lesser extent. One section of the battlefield was scorched black, and a large number of smouldering Eisenwald members were twitching in it.

There was a perfectly circular area where the combatants bore large numbers of cuts or prominent bruises consistent with blunt force weaponry – Erza's handiwork, undoubtedly. And beside it, there was a trail of Mages lying with their eyes whited out...

All with their hair cut off?

I raised an eyebrow at Lucy after finishing my perusal of the battlefield, and she coughed into her hand, muttering something about it working well enough on Everlue.

I just shrugged, and wondered if it was some kind of Samson effect that that caused Cancer to wipe out his opponents like that, or if they were just that shocked by the loss of their hair.

Maybe trauma from having a man with crab legs suddenly come at them with pairs of scissors? I had no idea. I was a physicist dammit, not a physician.

Deciding to climb out of my own thoughts before I started spouting pop culture references from another world, I continued walking beside Lucy until we reached Erza, Gray, Natsu and Happy.

The former turned to greet us, prompting the rivals behind her to immediately begin glaring at one another and mouthing insults and an argument. I was fairly sure they were arguing over who took out the most Mages, but I couldn't be sure. "Ah, Declan!" Erza greeted, hands on her hips and nodding in approval when she saw the figure over my shoulder. "Well fought; you handled yourself well."

She shifted her gaze sideways, giving Lucy a nod as well. "You did well too, Lucy..." She paused. "Though, I must say, your Spirit's manner of speech rather intrigues me – why '-ebi'? Surely '-kani' or '-choki' would be more suitable?"

Lucy drooped noticeably, compared to how she'd perked up when Erza had complimented her, and I patted her shoulder in commiseration before raising my opposite shoulder to draw attention to Eligor. "So, where should I drop this guy?"

The Requip Mage looked at the other Mage for a moment, then reached out towards me and plucked him off my shoulder like a twig. I stared for a moment, before remembering that Erza was entirely capable of cutting through stone walls, wearing the Purgatory armour and lifting things several times her mass and weight one-handed.

Eligor...really wasn't very impressive, compared to that.

It was Lucy's turn to pat me on the shoulder in sympathy as Erza man-handled my former opponent, tossing him on a pile of his defeated followers rather nonchalantly before picking up two of Eisenwald's discarded blades and stabbing them through his scarf's tails to trap him in place should he wake up.

That done, she turned back to us, focussing on me in particular. "Now, Declan – you have Lullaby?"

I paused for a moment, then remembered that I _had_ in fact collected the flute and reached into my coat for it, pulling out the implement of death with a mild shudder. "Yeah, Erza – I've got it here."

"Well done," she repeated, moving toward us. "I could hear Eligor's plan even during the battle - if he had succeeded, the consequences don't bear thinking about."

She reached out a hand for the flute, and I extended my own to hand it over...

Only for the shadow of my arm to abruptly rear up from the ground and pull it from my loosened grasp, immediately flipping the weapon into the air and across the terminal.

Erza, Lucy and I all followed it with our eyes, our bodies not yet reacting due to a lack of processing time, and had just enough time to see someone with a pineapple haircut catch Lullaby before darting away through the holes in the wall created by my finishing attack.

 _'Yup –_ definitely _working on toning down the collateral damage.'_

Erza and I both cursed at the same time, tearing off in pursuit as Lucy yelled at Natsu and Gray to get them under control.

This was bad. This was very, very bad. In the manga, Kageyama stayed his hand at the last in large part due to Team Natsu choosing to save his life. Here, that hadn't been necessary. I wanted to believe that Master Makarov would be able to stop him anyway – but I wasn't going to take that risk.

People didn't just... _change_ like that. They didn't alter their life goals on a whim, they wouldn't take a different course in life over just a few words.

Life _didn't work_ like that.

We reached the outside of the station just in time to see the magical car we'd arrived in careening out of sight – Kageyama undoubtedly in the driver's seat. I glared after him, leaning against the partially demolished wall. "Shit...I let my guard down..."

Erza was glowering in the direction of the car, but took a moment to shake her head and grip my shoulder. "No, Declan – we were both caught off guard. We will resolve this situation – and then, when we return to Fairy Tail, we will know not to repeat this mistake."

I glanced sideways at the redhead, who nodded once before releasing my shoulder and running back into the terminal, yelling at Natsu and Gray that they were going to find another transport.

I stared into the distance for a moment, then followed. Introspection and self-punishment could wait.

Right now, there was a job to be done.

* * *

We basically stole the second magical car. It was a bit of a dick move – but there was no time for anything else, and we'd probably be able to find the owner to return it later anyway.

Probably.

Erza was once more in the driver's seat, teeth gritted as she pushed the limits of both her own magical power and the vehicle's capacity for movement. At this rate, I was a bit worried about if she'd be able to fight at all when we caught up with Kageyama – it was almost certain that Lullaby would assume its full demonic form before or after we arrived, and facing it down without our S-class Mage wasn't an idea I was particularly enamoured with.

The rail-road tracks leading to Clover, the town where the Guild Masters were meeting, passed by swiftly beneath our wheels – and eventually, hours and a sunset after setting off, we came sliding to a halt at the edge of a forested area, clambering out of the vehicle.

I wondered why we'd stopped for a moment – but then Erza stumbled when she got down, and I knew.

Gray and Natsu were both at her side immediately, visibly worried as she used a tree to support herself.

I bit my lip, thinking of how we could handle this. I'd rested long enough on the way here for my magical power to build itself back up some – I wasn't going to be teetering on the edge of exhaustion if I was needed.

Well, the obvious solution was to leave Erza with the vehicle and go on ahead – but I couldn't sanction that, no matter what Erza might say or what Natsu and Gray would likely agree with. Yes, Erza was strong – but right now she was tired.

And in any case, I would be leaving a woman alone in a dark forest while she was physically impaired.

Not on my watch.

"Natsu!" I called, orienting myself in the direction of the Guild Masters – having that many powerful Mages close together was basically Woodstock to my little 'magical resonance' trick. "Give Erza a hand and follow us, we gotta hurry!"

"Right!" He called back, slinging one of Erza's arms over his shoulders and taking off at a jog as Lucy, Gray and I headed up the group, somewhat limited in our pace by the darkness of the forest as we tried to avoid running into any trees.

We saw lights through the trees, and eventually we reached the edge of a clearing. At its centre was a parked magical car – I had _no_ idea how Kageyama had managed to get it there; perhaps his Shadow Magic let him see in the dark? - and Kageyama, Lullaby in his hands, facing the tiny figure of Makarov Dreyer.

I went to continue my charge – but before I got more than a step, I came to a screeching halt when, seemingly out of nowhere, there appeared a short but well-built man in a cocktail dress.

The others halted behind me as Guild Master Bob of Blue Pegasus, in full drag and with little wings coming from the spaghetti straps of his dress, put a finger to his lips and shushed us. He glanced back, his bald, bestubbled face kept in a permanent, LSD grin that seemed to link the red circles on his cheeks. "Keep quiet, little ones – the best part's still coming up."

He paused, then raised one hand to his lips – and oh _God_ he was actually wearing lipstick. "My, aren't you boys cute..."

I resisted the temptation to go and cower behind Lucy – though only barely.

The blonde herself was asking anyone who might answer just who this was, and it was Erza, standing up straight in the man's presence, who did so. "Master Bob!"

The man's hand switched from in front of his face to cradling his own cheek as he turned his gaze on Erza. "Ah, little Erza – you've really grown since I last saw you."

"Master Bob," I interrupted, probably rather rudely. "Please, let us pass – we have to stop him!"

The man turned his gaze on me, looking out from below his lids somehow. "Oh? And why is that? Don't you believe Makarov can handle this?"

I grimaced; there was no good way to answer that question. It was probably why Bob had asked it. But still... "I respect the Master, I really do," I told him. "But I don't think _anyone_ could manage this. People don't just _change_ all of a sudden; their goals don't shift over the course of one conversation. It just _doesn't happen!"_

My voice probably rose a bit toward the end there – but I could see Lullaby getting closer to Kageyama's face, and it was really beginning to panic me.

Bob's expression didn't change dramatically – but somehow, I got the impression that he was pitying me. "I think I can see why you're one of Makarov's boys," he said softly, turning back toward the two men in the clearing. "You say it's impossible to change a man's beliefs with only a few words? Then watch. Learn – and understand why it is that Makarov is the Guild Master of Fairy Tail."

I grit my teeth; there wasn't anything I could do. I was no match for a Guild Master, let alone however many others might be in the bushes around here, and I didn't fancy my odds trying to pull Lullaby out of Kageyama's hands or anything at this range.

All I could do was watch...and hope.

* * *

 _A Few Minutes Earlier, Outside the Clover Meeting Hall..._

When Kageyama arrived at the Clover meeting hall and climbed from the magical four-wheeled vehicle, he took a moment just to look at it.

The castle-like building of red brick...currently, it held all the Guild Masters of this region. In his hands was Lullaby – the flute whose music caused instant death to all who heard it played.

This was it. This was when the plan came together, when all the hard work paid off. This was Eisenwald's revenge – their strike back after so much had been taken from them, their righteous blow against the overblown 'official' Guilds who swanned around like they owned the place!

But still, he couldn't help but wonder, as he turned the wood over in his hands, just what good this would do.

He cast his mind back to the train station – to the _look_ in that Dragon Slayer's eyes when his Shadow Magic almost reached the blonde one.

The promise of violence in that gaze had been an almost physical force – being kicked into a wall _had_ been a physical force, and one that his back and torso were still feeling.

That kick had been full of the anger and the protectiveness of someone looking after their own; he had _felt_ it in the kick, in the flames that had propelled it, and in the angry shout that came before it.

He remembered that feeling, and compared it to the last few years of his life. To even just that one fight, where the fairies had found their job even easier because none of the Eisenwald Mages had cared overly much if their swing or their cast hit an ally instead of an enemy. In a Dark Guild, your standing was dependent on your power – one person down without any risk was one more obstacle eliminated on the road to greater standing.

There was no camaraderie – there was just a shared dark nature. It was less like being a family and more like being part of a large corporation, where people _did_ work together, but they also stepped all over one another and couldn't care less about it.

Kageyama thought further, remembering what Eligor had said in one of his speeches – about how 'official' Guilds were all so well-known, how they were cocky and outspoken despite not having the power to back it up.

Well, Eligor had been beaten. Not only that, he'd been beaten by someone that no-one else in the Guild had recognised.

Honestly, Kageyama had to wonder if Eligor only got his 'shinigami' nickname taking on assassinations of civilians – after all, a Mage versus an individual without Magic of their own was really a no-brains-required outcome.

What else was it, that Eligor had said? That they were taking their revenge, striking back at the people who had locked them away in the darkness...

But thinking about it...why had that happened?

Sure, Eisenwald had never been a particularly large, powerful or influential Guild. They had a small customer base and they made enough money to get by on, generally saving more on jobs than the larger Guilds because their Mages were less prone to causing mass destruction and having to pay fees.

It hadn't been the high life – but it was life, and it worked, and the people in the Guild were content with their lot.

Then...then came Eligor. Eligor, and his force of personality, his talk of how they could make so much _more_ money if they just started looking beyond the regular circles of clients...

Before they knew it, the Wind Mage was taking assassination contract after assassination contract, urging others to do the same just as many started taking assault jobs, thieving, extortion...

Within a year of Eligor joining, Eisenwald was almost unrecognisable. Then the Council arrested the Guild Master, Eligor stepped in, and on the outside, nothing changed – but inside the Guild, it was the true beginning of the avalanche.

At this point, more than half the Guild were murderers at least once - many others had enough criminal charges for years of prison time and a permanent ban on practising magic. Operating against the law, with Eligor dragging them to more and more depraved depths, a true Dark Guild had arisen from the corpse of its previous form.

All because of Eligor – who had put all the blame on the Guild Masters and the Magic Council, neatly channelling all the anger of his fellow Guild members toward the government and guiding them even further into the dark.

The thoughts swirled in Kageyama's mind...and then a hand suddenly gripped his shoulder, startling him and sending a shiver up his spine as he realised he had been caught-

Before a finger poked his cheek and completely ruined the tense atmosphere.

The Shadow Mage spun around, finding himself facing the laughing figure of Makarov Dreyer, perched on the magical four-wheeled vehicle as if he'd been there forever and _hadn't_ just appeared out of seemingly thin air.

The old man coughed himself to a standstill as Kageyama stared, muttering something under his breath as he did so, before hopping down from the vehicle and glancing back over his shoulder. "Y'know, you should probably get to the hospital – those are some nasty bruises."

Kageyama felt sweat dripping down his brow.

This was...this was an even better opportunity than he could hope for.

This was the Guild Master of Fairy Tail – the man responsible for the Mages who had wrecked the plan and gotten the Guild arrested. He was here, clueless, and Kageyama still had Lullaby in his hands (though how had it gotten so close to his lips...?).

"Sir!" He blurted out after the retreating old man, who turned around to look at him with a questioning hum. Kageyama hesitated, then raised Lullaby slowly, forcing his face into a smile. "I'm sorry, but could I trouble you to listen to a song for me? I can't play in the hospital, but I'd really like someone to hear it..."

Makarov stared at him, expression unchanging as his eyes flickered over Lullaby. "That's a really creepy flute you've got." He noted, and Kageyama nodded, walking a bit closer.

"It is a bit, isn't it? But it sounds alright, and isn't that what matters?"

Makarov stared a moment longer, then sighed. "Well, I _am_ in a hurry...but I suppose one song wouldn't hurt."

"Thank you, sir..." Kageyama smiled, raising Lullaby to his lips. "Please, listen carefully." He took a deep breath, fingers on the holes in the wood, ready to bring death to all who heard the song...

Then stopped.

Really...why was he doing this? What would he gain? He was presumably the last free Mage of Eisenwald – no matter what happened, he was done for. He was nothing more than a petty thief really – enough to put him away for a while and impose a fine, but nothing like the death sentence or a magical sealing.

But if he went through with this – if he actually killed all the region's Guild Masters...

They'd hunt him until the ends of time and Earthland – and maybe beyond that, too.

His self preservation was the first thing to pause him, but after that all his earlier thoughts came back. Thoughts of Eligor and what might be called a madness, that had seeped from him and into Eisenwald like poison. Thoughts of the Fairy Tail Mages – the one who had acted so vehemently in defence of his teammate, and the one who had defeated Eligor on his home turf.

His fingers trembled on the wood as he thought of it, and the old man in front of him spoke up. "Is there a problem? I _am_ in a hurry, here."

Kageyama's trembling grew worse as he sweated more and more, his thoughts spiralling around two images – the burning, protective gaze of the Fire Mage, and Eligor's battered frame falling from the sky in a rain of debris, his opponent hovering in the air, fist still extended and a satisfied grin on his face.

His gaze flickered from Lullaby at his lips, to Makarov – and despite his stature, the shadows cast on the man's face made it seem far sharper than he had just moments before. "If you're going to play...you'd better do it _NOW."_

Kageyama startled, his thoughts all flying apart and rushing together as he recalled his wish – the hope that had inspired him, ever since he had first heard Eligor's plan to strike back, ever since he had first gone in search of Lullaby.

If he could play...if he could just play, then everything – the running, the hiding, the terrified faces and the constant fear, _everything_ – would surely change-!

"It won't change anything, you know."

The Shadow Mage's eyes shot wide, though they didn't look anywhere in particular as his whole body trembled.

Makarov continued, his voice tired, but strong. "Even when the strong are gone, it doesn't make the weak stronger. It just makes everything worse, so the weak can look better.

"And really, there's no point – because there's nothing wrong with being weak. Human beings are weak creatures to begin with; alone, a human cannot be strong...and that is why we form Guilds. _That_ , is why we have Nakama."

Kageyama's mind shot back – to that one, angry shout from the teen with pink hair, right before his foot sent the Shadow Mage into a darkness not of his own creation.

 _'DON'T YOU DARE LAY A HAND ON MY NAKAMA!'_

"We band together and walk as one, so that we can live a better life – a _stronger_ life." Makarov continued. "Sure, the clumsy ones might trip, and the silly ones might get lost, and the brash ones might run on ahead and get in trouble – but in the end, no matter how long it takes, everyone gets to the same place. Because when someone believes in who they can be, and if they believe in others who in turn believe in them... _that_ , is when a person becomes strong. _That_ , is how they can smile, and live with the confidence that they _are_ strong..."

The old man's face, sharp in the moonlight, abruptly split into a grin – a grin that was part humour, part challenge, and entirely confident. "Without having to depend on a flute like that, of course."

Kageyama stared at the old man for several long moments, Lullaby growing further and further from his mouth as he did so. To think that the whole time, this man had known exactly what he was planning to do – and still, he'd stood there and talked, never once showing fear or even anger.

Lullaby fell from his fingers, hitting the grass with a soft _thud_ , and the Shadow Mage fell to his hands and knees, eyes closed and suspiciously moist. This...was what a Guild Master was meant to be.

"Heh...you got me..." He muttered, head bowed before the old man.

Makarov looked at him, then heaved a quiet sigh and folded his arms behind his back, his wooden staff tucked at an angle over his shoulder. He closed his eyes for a moment, before turning to face the calling onrushing figures of Natsu, Erza, Gray and Lucy, Happy running right alongside them.

Just before they reached him, he shot one look through the gaps in their formation – seeing the dark-haired young man left standing where they had begun, staring at him with a look of incomprehension – as if he simply couldn't understand what had happened.

And maybe he couldn't – not everyone came to Fairy Tail with their hearts and minds open. In fact, very few did.

It would come with time, Makarov knew. Because that was what Fairy Tail did – and one day, it would work its magic on the young man.

Though for now, the Guild Master thought idly, he wished _someone_ would work a bit of healing Magic – Erza's breastplate never got any softer.

* * *

I stared after the figures of my teammates as they ran to greet Makarov, Lucy immediately moving over to the kneeling Kageyama – probably to check on his injuries.

Lucy was like that.

Master Bob was still standing beside me, not having moved, and when I finally looked away from my fellow Fairy Tail Mages, he looked back at me, one eyebrow raised.

His eyes were black, I noted.

"Well? Do you still believe that people can't change?"

I opened my mouth, closed it, then tried to open it again – but really, I wasn't sure what to say. What I'd just witnessed...everything I knew told me that it was impossible. That the change of heart which had just saved everyone in earshot of that flute couldn't have happened.

Yet...it had.

This...this must be what I was looking for, wasn't it? That ability which had reached out from the pages of a manga, to bring laughter to a dying girl...I had just witnessed it in action, hadn't I?

Yet...I didn't understand...

"I..." I tried to get further, but it took me a few moments to shake my head and clear it. When I did, I couldn't keep myself from frowning, or from looking down at my own right forearm – where my Fairy Tail emblem rested. "I've seen it..." I muttered. "So it _must_ be possible...but, I..."

Bob let out a slight sigh, reaching out and patting my shoulder despite the height difference between us. "It's okay if you don't understand yet." He assured me, starting his walk over to the Fairy Tail group. "So long as you stick around with those kids...you'll be sure to find your answer, one day."

And with that he was in earshot of the others, and his tone immediately switched back to the faux-girlish one that he had first used on meeting us.

I stared after him for a long moment, my left arm reaching out and grasping the point on my right where my mark resided. My answer...

I was interrupted from my musing when dark smoke and a feeling best described as 'DESPAIREVILRUINDECAYDEATH' started to rise from Lullaby, dragging my full attention back to it as a voice that almost reminded me of some unholy mix of Treebeard and Sauron spewed forth. **"WELL IF YOU GUTLESS MAGES AREN'T GOING TO PLAY ME...I'LL JUST HAVE TO EAT YOU ALL MYSELF!"**

The smoke from the flute grew higher and higher, the instrument itself vanishing into the cloud as a monstrous figure began to rise.

It was made of wood – old, twisted wood, of the kind most prevalent in horror movies. There were gaping holes in its form, darker even than the woods around us, much as the eye-holes of its flute form had been. It was humanoid, after a fashion, but rested on its hands and knees – the face had horns sweeping back from where eyebrows would be on a human, while its jaw had jagged edges that resembled a beard.

My Guildmates started panicking, with the exception of Erza, who simply startled. Really, I couldn't blame them – the miasma wafting off that thing was enough to instil panic in anyone, especially when they had no way to know it was coming.

Still, I _had_ pretty much known it was coming – and I also knew I seriously needed to get that bastard away from the meeting hall before my teammates collected themselves and then wrecked his day.

To that effect, I fell into my launch position and kicked off, gravity falling away from me as I passed above the others in a straight shot for the demon, just as he was finishing his little 'awakening speech'.

" **-PITIFUL SOULS- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"**

That was his response to me flying hard and fast through the hole in the centre of his chest (if one can assign a gender to a magically created flute demon of death) and grabbing hold of it with both hands, immediately setting my Magic to work in reducing his weight.

It was hard. There was a _lot_ of Lullaby, and the sheer area I had to work with was enough to strain me, even without my power being based on his mass. I made to call for my teammates – but as it turned out, that was unnecessary.

There were flashes of gold and red light below me, and I saw two figures charge the behemoth's legs – one clad in silver armour styled like feathers, a blade in each hand; the other massive and bovine, labrys in hand as he bellowed a challenge.

Lullaby gathered itself as if to attack, opening its mouth as Magic gathered...but then Natsu reached its shoulder, and punched the demon in the face without a second thought.

It rocked back, roaring its displeasure, blasting off a half-finished attack – but Gray was there, his ice forming a snow-flake shaped wall that tanked the hit flawlessly, easily protecting the Guild Masters behind it.

That bought all the time Erza and Taurus needed, both yelling out battle-cries as they slashed with their respective weapons. Steel flashed in the moonlight and, with another massive roar from the demon, both of Lullaby's legs were severed.

The sudden reduction in the area I had to cover, combined with the complete loss of any physical anchor to the ground, made my job _much_ easier. I let out my own yell of effort, before beginning to rise into the air – and taking the demon with me.

Natsu had disembarked quickly as the motion began, and I accelerated upward quickly, forcing Lullaby with me – his wooden arms didn't seem to bend well enough for him to reach into his own chest, and once I judged we were high enough, I gave one last upwards _toss_ before exiting the cavity.

Lullaby flew up several more feet before I reached his arm and gripped his wrist using both arms. They didn't even come close to meeting at the other side – but I had enough of a grip.

 _'It's simple enough. Face away, arm over shoulder, secure grip with both hands, and – PULL!'_

The air resistance created by a multi-storey wooden demon is pretty immense. The numbers weren't really with me this time, either – ideally I'd have had something pushing his other arm upwards for this bit to maximise the torque, rather than just the exponentially increased force of a gravitationally-enhanced forward flip.

Thankfully though, I had enough brute force to get him past the halfway point – and after that, all I really had to do was let go.

A multi-storey wooden demon has some incredible air resistance – but under the influence of several times Earthland's native gravity over a fall of almost three to four times its own height, that resistance didn't mean squat.

I was fairly sure I caused a minor earthquake when I flipped Lullaby into the rolling hills outside Clover, and I _knew_ I had probably just ruined some perfectly usable farmland for someone at some point.

But the meeting hall was safe from the carnage about to begin, and that was enough.

I floated back down to where Lucy was standing with Happy, Makarov and the other Guild Masters, my path probably a bit wonky as my head filled with cotton wool. I stumbled on the landing, but thankfully Lucy caught me by the shoulder, keeping me vertical until I had my balance back. Then, she basically dragged me over to and pushed me down beside a tree to rest, before looking back over toward Lullaby – or rather, where Lullaby had been lying.

 _'Well, if_ I _didn't ruin that area, those three sure did.'_ I wasn't entirely sure what the long-term effects would be of that area being simultaneously deep-frozen and nuked, but I was fairly certain that the odds of anything growing there ever again had been seriously lowered.

Makarov was laughing his head off as the other Guild Masters chatted among themselves, praising the three Mages – and, unless I was mistaken, throwing in the occasional compliment for Lucy and I as well.

Then again, the odds of me being wrong were actually pretty high at the moment; I felt like I was watching the world from underwater, with the distorted vision and sounds.

The trio came marching back from their conquest with smirks in place, to vocal praise from Lucy and the Guild Masters, while Makarov was dancing around and basically shoving their success in his peers' faces.

Ah, well – that was his prerogative, I supposed.

I leaned my head back against my tree, letting out a deep breath and closing my eyes for a moment. It had been a _very_ long day – some things had changed, some things had stayed the same, but hopefully a better path had been set for the future.

And I'd come a bit closer to finding my answer...

"Declan?"

I opened my eyes and squinted a bit, finding Lucy's features first. She was crouched in front of me, while arrayed behind her were Natsu, Gray and Erza – the latter with one arm around the first's shoulders, having likely exhausted herself beyond what was advisable in donning her Black Wing armour, directly after the Heaven's Wheel armour, and when she was already exhausted to boot.

The blonde smiled widely at me, offering her hand. "Just so you know – you were pretty awesome too."

I looked back up at her for a moment, then smiled as I took the hand, making sure to use my legs to try and support her efforts – my magical power was basically _gone_ right now, and I wanted nothing more than a good night's sleep.

"Thanks, Lucy – and great work there. I'd never have gotten the bastard off the ground without you and Erza."

Her smile grew wider at the praise, and I finally got to my feet, keeping my grip on her hand a moment longer to make sure I was stable before letting her go and turning back toward the Guild Masters.

Master Goldmine was talking to Makarov, who looked positively delirious with happiness – understandable, considering. It wasn't very often that Fairy Tail actually did something like this without _something_ to drag it down, after all.

The fact that I was responsible for keeping this one incident as a good memory in their minds was...warming.

"So," I asked, as Makarov just kept dancing around the place and spinning – almost like a real fairy, come to think of it. "Do we just go home now? I mean, I don't about you guys, but I _really_ need some sleep."

"I certainly wouldn't say no to getting some rest," Erza admitted, while Natsu and Gray glanced at one another before both looking away at the same time.

 _'I guess neither wants to admit they're tired in front of the other...'_

"Me neither," Lucy agreed, while on the ground beside her Happy chirped off an 'Aye!'.

I looked around, my foggy brain reaching for something to say and snagging on one of my favourite movies. "So. It's...I don't even _know_ how many miles to Magnolia, we got maybe half a Lacrima of magical power between us, a flying cat, it's dark..." I rustled in my coat for a moment, then retrieved a certain item and placed it on my face. "And I'm wearing sunglasses."

The others looked around as well, then nodded, and I let out a long, low sigh. _'It figures...I finally,_ finally _get a chance to use that line, and it goes right over their heads.'_ "Let's just...go home, okay?"

"Aye!"


	6. V - Para Bellum

Getting back to Magnolia was, thankfully, easier than I had been expecting. Since we didn't have an angry mob of Guild Masters chasing us across the country, we were able to rest the night in the meeting hall with Makarov, then set out the next morning for Clover's train station.

The train was running properly thankfully (though I did notice, somewhat guiltily, that Oshibana's station was still out of commission.), so we took it down the line all the way back to Magnolia for the early afternoon.

We went our separate ways there – Natsu and Happy had their own cottage near town, Makarov lived in the Guild building, Erza lived in a female-only dormitory called 'Fairy Hills' (Lucy looked interested, until hearing that the basic rent was 100,000 Jewels and it only went up from there) and Gray apparently also had a cottage – on the completely opposite side of Magnolia from Natsu.

It was almost like God himself had declared those two rivals...which, depending on how the chicken/egg cycle played out with the Fairy Tail manga and this world, might be disturbingly accurate.

Lucy and I bid our guildmates farewell, heading off to Strawberry Street and our respective apartments. Once there, we barely took the time to wave to one another before entering our homes and, in my case at least, fixing a light meal before passing out on my bed despite the early hour.

Turned out channelling the spirit of Team Dai-Gurren and then judo-tossing a murderous flute was a great way to tire yourself out. Who knew, right?

* * *

I woke the next morning at a more reasonable time of eleven AM. Or rather, I entered consciousness – I wasn't _awake_ until after I stepped into a shower cold enough to shock me into turning up the temperature and swearing my head off.

With some semblance of higher-order thinking skills online, I pottered around a bit, fixing porridge and toast for breakfast and eyeing the small bottle on the counter. The herbalist I'd bought it from told me it was a simple pain-killer, tried and tested all across Fiore.

I stared at it for a little while, then got over my hang-ups and decided I might as well call on some of the legendary Fairy Tail death-wish...er, courage.

One swig downed half the bottle, which was apparently the recommended dose, and when I didn't keel over dead seconds later I decided I was just being paranoid.

With my immediate needs taken care of, I lounged around doing nothing for about an hour, simply absorbing the last few days of happenings. I'd been a Fairy Tail Mage for...about a week, at this point. Everlue had been dealt with; we'd tipped off the guards, who had called in the Council, who had then turned up everything the corrupt politician had been hiding.

Needless to say, he wasn't going to be getting out of prison any time soon.

Now Eisenwald was behind us...really, I'd better go and see what I could find out about that situation. Had we got everyone? Eligor escaped in the manga – but then again Natsu had left him lying miles away from town or any kind of law enforcement, with no indication that he was there.

So, not exactly a big surprise the ringleader escaped capture.

The odds of him getting away _this_ time, however, seemed far less in his favour. One didn't walk away from the kind of hits he'd taken; and I had doubts about him being able to fly away after firing off an Emera Baram. He had barely been able to fly after the Wind Wall in the manga – and Emera Baram was supposedly his most powerful technique.

That in mind, I groaned my way out of my armchair and then the door, pulling on my coat with a wince and stepping into the sunshine.

I decided to make the Guild my first stop, so I wandered through the city streets with my hands in my pockets, just...existing.

I was a country boy, born and bred. The largest town I'd ever lived in had a population under a thousand. I'd expected to feel... _unease_ , living in a city like this. Honestly though, it was far better than I had expected.

Fiore, quite possibly Earthland in its entirety, had substituted magical power for hydrocarbons and even green energy – though arguably, magical power _was_ a form of green energy. An infinite amount was produced naturally by ten percent of all human beings, who in turn could create devices to gather the same amount but in a more easily accessible form and at greater rates. It was highly adaptable, capable of basically anything if properly worked.

It was the perfect fuel source; the kind of thing that scientists on Earth would probably have sold their frontal lobes for.

As a result, pollution was absolutely minimal. Sure, wood was still used in cooking, animals were still plentiful, and littering could be an issue – but when I put it side-by-side with the planet I'd left behind, Earthland was basically Eden.

Plus, its population seemed considerably lower. I wasn't sure exactly why that was, since I hadn't learned much more than trivia about biology, psychology or economics, but walking through the streets here didn't even come close to the experience of trying to walk in London, Edinburgh or even Aberdeen.

That, taken with the outdated (from my perspective) housing designs and the largely clean air, turned what I'd feared would be an abysmal inhabitance to a tolerable one. Maybe even an enjoyable one, when the company was taken into consideration.

On that note, Fairy Tail came into view. I took a moment just to look at it, once more thinking about the last few days. Back in Hargeon, it had taken weeks for me to be properly comfortable around Amelia, Buggy and the Captain. Here, I had settled into a kind of camaraderie in just days, actually finding myself happy to have been offered a place in Team Natsu.

When I considered that, before meeting Lucy and Natsu, I had done my level best to avoid social interaction when at all possible...it was a fairly massive change.

A Fairy massive change...?

 _'Okay, breaking off my thoughts_ right _there.'_ I did _not_ need to start spouting bad puns all over the place. It would be the same thing as Cancer ending his sentences in '-ebi', and I wasn't going to fall into that trap.

Crossing the square, I entered the Guild. A few people glanced over, most of them turning away once they saw it was just me, but a couple of others offered cordial nods.

I nodded back to them, crossing to the bar and raising a hand to Mirajane in greeting. "Morning, Mirajane."

The bartender looked up, offering her usual smile. "Good morning, Declan. Are you feeling better after the other day?"

I blinked. "Yeah, more or less. The bruises are still fading, but I won't even be taking a new scar away from this." I paused, glancing around the room once more. Looking again, quite a few people had started holding quiet conversations since I walked in... "So, you guys heard about what happened, then?"

"Yup!" Mirajane agreed, nodding. "Gossip travels really fast among the Guilds – I wouldn't be surprised if all of you end up in the newspapers!"

For a moment, I recalled Captain Branston's comment to me when I was bidding him farewell, and shuddered. Then, I saw Mirajane giving me an odd look, and waved it off. "It's nothing. So," I changed the subject, "have you heard anything about what happened to Eisenwald?"

Though I got the distinct impression that my change of subject hadn't gone unnoticed, Mirajane was kind enough to let it pass without remark and instead tapped her lip a couple of times. "Ah, I have, yes. That _was_ in the newspaper – probably the Council wanting to let the people know a Dark Guild had been taken care of before they could run the story about you guys."

She reached under the bar, producing a copy of the paper in question, then flipping to a certain page and tapping an article in particular. I took it from her, reading through. There was a fairly long segment about how benevolent and competent the Council was that just reeked of propaganda – especially since we had been acting on our own initiative – but then again, that was politics, and therefore none of my business. I wasn't looking for recognition – just my answer.

I'd had more than enough of the former in Hargeon.

Following the brainwashing...I mean, journalism, there was a list of the Eisenwald members who had been taken in. I saw Kageyama's name on the list, as well as the fat wall-guy – Karakka, that was him.

But to my own relief and satisfaction, 'Shinigami Eligor' was atop the list in bold print, the crowning glory of the arrests.

Mirajane probably noticed some change in my demeanour, as she leaned her face on one hand and smiled happily. "There's no feeling quite like a job well done, is there?"

I nodded as I returned the paper. "Indeed not, Mirajane." I settled back on my seat, puffing out a breath of air as I did so, and glanced idly over at the request board.

Technically, there was nothing saying I _had_ to take jobs with Natsu, Lucy and Happy. But on the other hand, galivanting off without them would be a total dick move with no real reasoning behind it. Plus, I wasn't sure of the exact timings of things; since it hadn't happened today, the fight between Natsu and Erza would probably be going down tomorrow or a bit later – so, if I took a job, I could well miss it.

Besides, even considering the possibility was...disturbing. And not in the positive manner I now associated with being around Lucy and the others, where displays of emotion made it through the general numbness of my day-to-day state - it was just...unsettling.

So, in short, I'd be leaving the board alone.

That left a few options. Curling up somewhere with a good book (which I quite liked the sound of), shopping (which I didn't) and trying to find someone to talk with.

Since Lucy wasn't here, she was likely either out shopping or spending the day at home. Natsu wasn't here either, though I couldn't be sure of his reasons – since Gray wasn't here either, it could be that they were both resting.

I hadn't expected to see Erza at all, and those expectations had been met – she had been even more exhausted than me, and S-class or not she needed to sleep it off.

So, if I was going to talk with someone, it had to be another person in the Guild – someone I hadn't introduced myself to yet.

I started scanning the room again, taking note of the people who I knew and the people I didn't.

Hm. There were quite a lot of options...but my eyes kept drifting over to one little group in particular.

Team Shadow Gear had a table of their own in the corner of the Guild. Jet and Droy had meals in front of them – it _was_ getting rather close to noon, I supposed – while Levy McGarden had her nose in a book.

Well, if there was one thing I could count on as a conversation starter, it was literature.

I turned back to Mirajane, reaching into my pocket for my wallet. "Hey, Mirajane? Can I get a Mead Velour please?"

"Coming right up, Declan!" She called back to me, fetching the drink from the bottles below the bar and accepting the 200 Jewels I passed her in return.

I'd mostly figured out the currency now – or at least, I thought I had. Generally, my feel for the prices here in terms of Jewels was about a hundred times what I might have expected from Scotland. So, I had mentally substituted 100 Jewels for 1 Pound. It helped me keep a handle on things.

Taking the bottle with a quick thanks, I slid off my stool and stood up, looking around the room as if I was just now looking for somewhere to take a seat.

It was probably completely unnecessary – but I found myself rather apprehensive about the prospect of approaching someone else in an attempt to start a conversation without a set goal of some kind. Socialising for its own sake was never something I'd been particularly comfortable with, but if I was going to really be a part of the Guild, I assumed I needed to get to know the other members.

That reasoning helped me keep my walk steady as I headed toward Shadow Gear, choosing to settle down at the table right next to theirs and lean back a bit in my chair, basically giving me a view of the entire room as I took a sip from the bottle I was holding.

This was where my plan became nebulous; I had basically no idea what to do next. Did I initiate a conversation? Did I wait? If I _did_ start the conversation, what should it be about? My inclination was to use literature somehow, but how should I open?

The questions kept running around my head, and I was close to just giving it up as a bad job when the dilemma was solved properly.

"Oh, hi – you're Declan Ross, right?"

Startled out of my drink, I turned my gaze quickly sideways to meet the hazel eyes of Levy McGarden, who had looked up from her book. Judging by her expression, it was out of curiosity. "That's me." I agreed, placing my bottle on the table – I didn't want to accidentally stop the conversation by drinking from it.

Levy's largely straight, nape-length blue hair was currently being held back by an orange bandanna. There was a necklace of some sort formed of interlocking squares around her neck, her torso was covered by what I thought was a yellow bikini top of some kind beneath a dark blue, midrif-baring waistcoat that fastened beneath her bust. The rest of her outfit was a pair of white, knee-length shorts held up with a leather belt, and sandals.

"I'm Levy McGarden," she introduced herself, before gesturing to the two men at her table. "These are Jet and Droy – my teammates."

Jet had bright-orange hair beneath a tall brown-and-fur top hat, jutting out to either side of his head beneath the the brim. His features were sharp, and his outfit consisted of a coat made of the same stuff as his hat over a purple button-up shirt with the first button undone, tucked into knee-length, baggy black leggings which were in turn tucked into tall black boots.

Droy had hair as dark as my own, kept largely close except for a peculiar formation at the back leaning up and forward like a fin or a plant's stem. His prominent cheekbones gave his face an almost rectangular appearance, set over his plain white shirt with criss-crossing yellow bandoliers, left untucked from dark green trousers with a pattern of repeating squares done in black and dark shoes.

"Good to meet you both." I told them, holding out my hand. They each returned the gesture – though, I noted that they used a bit more pressure than was likely normal, and their gazes were just a touch suspicious.

Ah, that was right – these two had both sworn their eternal love for Levy, hadn't they? Well, no worries there – for them or me, really.

Jet's thing was being really fast – but all I really had to do was lift off the ground and he would be completely unable to reach me. Droy's plants probably couldn't reach me at any decent height, either. Now, Levy was an entirely different prospect – her Solid Script Magic was far more diverse than just about anything else I could think of, and her intellect let her make full use of it.

But none of that should be necessary to think about over a handshake, so I put it out of my mind as I re-settled in my chair, facing Shadow Gear this time instead of the room in general. "So, you know my name? I didn't really expect that, being the new guy and all."

Levy raised one delicate eyebrow. "You might be the new guy, but you're also one of Natsu's teammates – that alone was enough reason to notice you. Sure he makes friends easily, but he doesn't rely on others very often."

...Yeah, I could see her point. Natsu was quite a lot like me in that he preferred to do things himself rather than pass them onto another.

"Then you and...Lucy, wasn't it?" I nodded to confirm her question, and she continued. "You and Lucy went on a mission with Erza, Gray and Natsu – quite possibly the strongest team Fairy Tail can form. Again, that would be enough to pay some attention to you."

Again, that was reasonable.

"But instead of holding the team back or just standing on the sidelines, you stood beside them and fought. The rumours actually got back here even before you guys and the Master returned yesterday – about how Fairy Tail had defeated the demon Lullaby." I opened my mouth to ask just what those rumours said, but the bookworm waved me off before I could start. "Sure, rumours aren't usually very dependable – but when they were talking about a female Mage who could Requip armour, a Fire Mage strong enough to rock a demon with a punch, an Ice Mage whose speed and skill could hold off its attacks and a Celestial Spirit Mage with a Zodiac key, I paid attention to the last rumour."

She leaned forward a bit, resting her chin on both her hands. I waited a moment, then indulged her. "So, what _was_ the last rumour?"

"That the last member of the team lifted the demon off the ground, then threw it into a mountain."

I blinked a couple of times. "Huh. Those rumours are all actually true – I half expected everything to get blown out of proportion..."

Shadow Gear stared at me for a moment, and I noticed all of them were glancing mostly at my arms and torso – largely hidden by my coat, but I liked to think still noticeably more defined than was the case for most Mages. "You...seriously lifted Lullaby? The giant, wooden demon Lullaby?"

Droy's question came with a certain air of disbelief, and I smirked momentarily before reaching behind me for my table.

With a quick application of my Magic, the heavy wooden furniture rose off the ground in my hand, allowing me to hold it over my head by the edge with perfect ease.

Shadow Gear stared at me for a moment, before I basically replicated my trick with Bora's ship by tossing the table up a bit and letting it come down on only my pinky, where gravity kept it stuck and still balanced.

Since I hadn't used enough magical power to manifest my Magic Circle, to Mages without the ability to sense magical power like I could, it looked like I was doing this through main strength.

I took another sip of my drink with my free hand, looking back blandly to Levy and her teammates as I continued to hold the table over my head with a single finger. "I'm pretty good at lifting things," I told them, lowering my arm to place the table back where I had been.

Jet and Droy were just looking a bit amazed, but Levy frowned at the display. "Wait...you weren't holding it properly. But, it didn't fall..."

I raised an eyebrow of my own this time, picking up my bottle again and raising it to her. "You noticed; you must be really observant, Levy."

She smiled, acknowledging the compliment, but when she glanced at the table the question was implicit. "What you just saw wasn't brute strength – it was my Magic."

Levy gave me a deadpan 'no shit' look, and the corner of my mouth twitched upward in response. "Oh, come on – you're more than smart enough to get it, Levy. Shall I show you again?"

That said, I cast about the room for something to use.

There were quite a lot of loose targets...but the first one that caught my eye was a flagon on one of the tables, which I levelled a hand at. **"Bansho Ten'in."**

The flagon immediately hurled itself across the room, smacking into my palm where I managed to wrap my fingers through its handle to keep from dropping it.

I placed the container on the table beside me, as Levy's eyes widened a touch. "It _looks_ like Telekinesis..." She muttered, looking at the flagon then back to my hand. "But a low-level technique like that wouldn't even affect a demon – its aura would shrug it off easily. Plus, I've never heard of _anyone_ with enough magical power to use Telekinesis on that scale."

I nodded along with her thought process – I'd come across Telekinesis before, and been a bit disappointed. It was something that every Mage was capable of doing with a bit of practice, but it wasn't particularly effective, from what I'd seen and experimented with myself. There were diminishing returns as you put more power into the technique, and it could be easily interfered with by stray magic or a Mage's own natural aura.

In that instance, my own Magic was considerably more powerful – I had yet to reach a point where I required a larger investment of power to raise the effect by the same amount, meaning that an increase in my magical power was a constant increase in my Magic's strength. Telekinesis, on the other hand, had an inversely proportional increase, meaning that it was a good skill for fine handling or micro-management, but by the time you were working with targets the size of people, the necessary power investment started to get somewhat ridiculous.

"So if it isn't Telekinesis, but it still causes movement..." She leaned forward a bit, eyes narrowed as she examined me more closely. "I'd say you were an Air Mage, but I couldn't see, hear or feel any wind currents when you were using your Magic. So then, it must be something incorporeal..."

I could almost see the moment she reached her conclusion, since she took on a look of mild awe. "You're a Gravity Mage, aren't you?"

The corner of my mouth twitched, more surely this time, and I stood up. Still carrying my bottle, I stepped to the pillar we were seated next to and just kept going, walking up to around the level of Levy's head before taking a seat, my legs dangling horizontally toward the wall of the Guild. While I was there, I took a swig of my drink – the liquid's gravity having been changed alongside mine – and then placed the bottle on the pillar beside me, a fully-formed grin appearing on my lips at the sight of a gaping Jet and Droy, as well as their widely smiling leader. "That's me. Nice detective work, Levy."

The blunette bowed her head a bit. "Thanks, Declan."

Collecting my bottle, I walked back down the pillar to retake my seat. I could have stayed in that position for probably the entire day – heck, I might even have been able to sleep like that if I could figure out how to keep the spell running that long – but it was considerably harder to hold a conversation at ninety degrees to the other speaker.

I already smarted all over – I didn't need a crink in my neck too.

"Where did you learn a Magic like that?" Levy asked, leaning in again. I could understand the fascination – I wasn't aware of anyone else who used a Magic like mine, and there was no mention of it in any of the reference books I'd managed to read through. I was fairly sure it wasn't a Lost or Forbidden Magic – since I hadn't been arrested and no one was making a _really_ big deal over it – but still I was, so far as I was aware, unique.

"It's actually my natural affinity," I admitted, which drew even more incredulous looks from Shadow Gear. "See, about six months ago, I was basically ordinary. I didn't get out much, but that was about as abnormal as I got. I wasn't even a Mage.

"Then, I go out for a walk one day, and the next thing I know I'm waking up outside Hargeon with no money, no ID, and a feeling like I got sat on by a dragon."

Ah, story-telling. It was kinda fun sometimes, even if what passion I once had for writing had died a while ago - and since Shadow Gear were giving me their full attention, I had to keep myself from trying to embellish on my tale to make it a better listen. Instincts of a writer – or a pathological liar. They could be interchangeable at times, really.

"It turned out I'd somehow suffered a near coma-inducing loss of magical power, despite never having used Magic of any kind before in my life." I shook my head, idly examining the back of my hand. "I still haven't solved that mystery...but I digress.

"I started looking up how people learned Magic, since I figured I might as well learn to use what I apparently now had. There weren't any Mages I could pay to teach me, and I didn't want to find someone willing to take pity on me or a magical creature who might impart some wisdom. So, I just spent a few weeks trying again and again to use my magical power for something. Then, one day, _poof!"_ I threw my hands wide, rising about a foot out of my seat as I did for emphasis. "I rip a tree out of the ground, and as they say, the rest is history."

I floated back into my seat, taking a swig of my drink as Shadow Gear – and Levy in particular – processed my story. The blunette shook her head, while Jet and Droy whistled lowly. "To think that there's actually someone who managed to naturally manifest a Magic like that..."

I shrugged. "I don't see it as a big deal, really." More incredulous looks – better explain myself. "Well sure gravity's a really useful power in a lot of situations – combat especially. But at the same time, it's really kinda simple. I can think of a lot of complex uses for it – but it's all a matter of push or pull.

"I'm a bit weird with magic, I guess. Some people would kill for this talent of mine – but I have a greater appreciation for things like Gray's Ice-Make Magic, or your Solid Script Magic, Levy. Things that have many and diverse uses, applications beyond beating people up. I saw an example of Word Magic in Shirotsume – a spell cast by a Mage called Zekua Melon on his book to rearrange all the characters – and it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

"I suppose what I'm saying, is that I feel magic is about more than combat and selfish uses. Its only limits are the caster's imagination and their magical power – beyond that, the sky's the limit." I paused. "Except not really, since I know for a fact that there are people out there who can drop rocks out of it."

I took a drink when I was sure I'd finished, while both Levy and Droy were giving me appraising look, Jet looking under the table to eye his own feet. "Not a lot of Mages think like you do, Declan." Levy noted, a wide, genuine smile spreading across her features. "Really, I feel the same way – there is, in my opinion, no greater magic than a good book."

I found myself returning her smile, nodding happily. "I know what you mean – Lucy recently got me to start reading through Kemu Zaleon's series of books, and I've spent almost all my free time reading them lately."

Levy's smile widened. "I do believe we're going to be friends, Declan Ross."

Reaching for my bottle, I raised it in front of me. Levy looked around for something of her own to drink, and I glanced over my shoulder, narrowing my eyes toward the bar and one of the bottles kept above the counter.

With a quick point of the finger and a muttered **"Bansho Ten'in,"** , it came soaring across the room and into my hand, where I glanced at the label. Yup – it was Mead Velour, like I'd hoped.

I grabbed the cork and pulled it out with a judicious application of brute strength, handing the drink over to Levy, who took it a bit uncertainly. "It's non-alcoholic," I assured her, pointing out the label of my own bottle. "I don't see the point in getting drunk, so I basically only drink this, water and milk. I've been considering trying to make fruit juice, but I haven't got around to it yet."

The theory seemed sound – hold fruit over bowl, form gravitational field around fruit, crush. Release field, hold remains of fruit, let juice fall into bowl. Repeat as often as necessary.

I was probably simplifying it, but that was what experimentation was for.

Doubts assuaged for the moment, Levy picked up the bottle, both Jet and Droy raising their own tankards. "To Magic." I declared, moving my bottle forward to tap it against Shadow Gears' containers.

Levy raised an eyebrow, raising her bottle with a smile. "To friendship!"

Jey and Droy glanced at one another, then to Levy, before glancing back to one another - then, they started glaring as they moved their tankards forward. "To true love!"

I watched with mild amusement as, the moment the toast was over, the two male members of Shadow Gear almost fell out of their seats to start tearing into one another, kick-starting a brawl that began to consume the entire hall within seconds.

Levy watched with twitching eyebrows, before letting out an incredibly harried sigh and glancing mournfully at the bottle in her hands - likely wishing she had asked for something stronger, if I had to guess. Then, she pointedly turned her seat away from the bedlam behind her, smiling as she leaned forward on her arms. "So, Declan. Which part of Kemu's books did you like most so far?"

 _'I do believe I'm going to like this girl.'_

* * *

My conversation with Levy (as well as Jet and Droy, once the chaos calmed down and they dragged themselves back to the table, seemingly all tuckered out for the moment) continued well into the afternoon, and I ended up buying lunch from Mirajane (paying for the bottle of Mead Velour I'd appropriated at the same time), taking it back over to the table and keeping it going.

I left the Guild in the early evening, wandering through the twilight back to my apartment. The lights were on in Lucy's building, so she had either come back from her day out or she'd never left in the first place. One way or another, she was home.

I went into my own home, letting out a yawn as I fixed myself some cuts of ham (quite a few of the domestic animals from Earth also existed in Earthland, as it turned out), cheese and bread for a sandwich, accompanied by chopped carrot and some mashed potato which I heated with the stove in my kitchen.

No one had ever accused me of being good at cooking – putting together things I was fairly sure my body needed was about as well as I could do on my own, hence why I tended to eat out.

With food in me, I remembered to actually don the fleecy leggings I had purchased to serve as sleepwear before I went to bed, leaving my shirt off as I normally did. I'd almost forgotten, these last few days, what it was like to have enough energy for preparing to sleep.

An hour's reading of the fourth in Kemu Zaleon's series of books was all I managed before my eyesight was too blurry to continue, so I powered off the Lacrima which served as the light in my room, and turned in.

* * *

The next morning started uneventfully. I got up, showered, dressed, then ate my fill of porridge and brushed my teeth. With that done, I milled around my home, idly practicing the technique I was currently trying to perfect – namely, a proper gravitational shield.

It was simple enough in theory – a powerful field of repulsive force that could stop attacks and send them flying back as long as they were physical. Perhaps it would even work on spells; I didn't know how my Magic would interact with others'. But one way or another, it should be my bread-and-butter defensive technique.

Which meant that my failure to bring it up to snuff was more than a bit frustrating.

In theory, it should be just like Bespoke Arms combined with Shinra Tensei – however, trying to hold the field in a rectangular shape before me started to get a bit taxing after I got it to a certain thickness and strength, eventually turning into what was basically a charged Shinra Tensei if I let it get away from me enough.

Thankfully I didn't break my walls or furniture – unfortunately, that was because I had been trying it out through the window.

Poor seagulls...

I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing wrong. Was it a matter of control? Visualisation? Power requirements? Was there some kind of mathematics I was missing here?

I spent my early morning trying to figure that out, until I heard a shout from Lucy's apartment, and figured it was time for me to head out.

I walked to my window, ready to jump out and head to Lucy's...but paused, glancing at an object lying on my dresser. I debated with myself, then gestured to it with my hand, summoning it. I pushed it inside my coat, then leapt from the window, closing it behind me and jogging along the wall until I could jump the gap to Lucy's apartment and head up to the window that she always left unlocked.

Gray was explaining himself within in all his glory, while Lucy was glaring at him. "Morning guys!" I greeted them, waving with one hand, the other placed in my coat pocket.

Gray glanced over, offering me a nod, while Lucy gave an exasperated groan. "Why is it always _my_ apartment people gather in?"

I shrugged. "I don't know about the others, but whenever someone appears here you yell and then they deliver important news of some kind. I'd come for the first reason alone, but the second's good too."

The third, unsaid reason was the company – but I wasn't lonely. Nope, definitely not lonely.

The blonde let out a long sigh, as Gray nodded. "Yeah, I actually did come with news. I didn't know if you two would have forgotten or not, so I came to fetch you."

Lucy gave him a blank look, but I nodded. "Ah, right – the thing from when we got on the train, right?"

Gray nodded, while comprehension dawned in Lucy's eyes. "Yeah – this is the day that Erza and Natsu will fight."

* * *

We made the journey from Lucy's place to Fairy Tail at a decent clip, Gray collecting his clothes from... _somewhere_ as we went. Honestly I had no idea, since I was locked in a rather pensive mood.

The Guild Masters were quite happy with us at the moment – we'd defeated a threat to the Kingdom and we'd done it well, displaying our skill to our watchers and doing a public service. We were, on the surface, the heroes in all this.

But, still, we _had_ wrecked Oshibana's train station, stolen a magical car (two, if you wanted to be pedantic about it), and caused some mass destruction quite nearby a population centre.

The question was, how were the Council going to play this?

I'd seen today's newspaper on Lucy's table, and Fairy Tail were credited with the sucessful prevention of the Lullaby threat, naming Erza, Natsu and Gray – but not Lucy and I, probably since we hadn't yet been interviewed or anything, meaning no-one knew who we were yet.

That almost made me snort - there were plenty of people who knew each of us, we'd both just managed to get away from them.

Though the thought of being interviewed raised a whole slew of other worries – like if the Captain had seen this, and if he had, what he was going to do once he figured out it was me in the article.

I wouldn't place any bets on him _not_ figuring it out – he was a wily old bastard, and he'd seen me lift more than one impossible weight before. He _also_ knew which Guild I'd headed off to join, since when I handed over Bora, he confessed to impersonating a member of Fairy Tail – and that had led to me spilling the beans about why Natsu had been joining in the fight.

All in all, I was waiting with baited breath for the other shoe to drop at some point – but for now, that wasn't my major concern. Hence, the item I'd picked up that morning.

It might not be necessary – but if it came to that, it should just ease an already simple process.

There was a large crowd gathered outside Fairy Tail, cheering and shouting filling the air as the Mages encircled the two fighters. Gray, Lucy and I all headed over to where Elfman was standing with Mirajane and someone I hadn't been introduced to yet.

Lucy couldn't quite see over the crowd, and I coughed into my hand when she went to use some of the other Mages to boost her up. When she turned to me, I raised one eyebrow and offered a hand. She paused a few moments, then gingerly placed her hand in mine, allowing my Magic to flow over her.

A second later, when I raised my hand, she went with it – instantly giving her a view over the heads of the others present. She bit her lip when she saw Natsu and Erza staring each other down across the encircled space, and I let her back down after a moment so she could speak with the others properly. "So they're really serious about this?"

"Of course they're serious!" Elfman exclaimed, his arms folded over his chest. "If they weren't, they wouldn't be real men!"

"Erza's a girl though..." Mirajane reminded her brother, while beside them the Mage I didn't know muttered something else.

"But is it really a good idea to have two members of the strongest team fighting?" Lucy persisted, drawing a confused look from Gray.

"Strongest team? What do you mean?"

"You, Natsu and Erza!" Lucy continued, making a sweeping gesture which encompassed Gray himself and the two combatants. "I mean, you guys are the three strongest Mages in Fairy Tail, right?"

Gray stared at her for a moment, then huffed out a quick laugh, shaking his head. "Nowhere close, Lucy – who the heck told you that nonsense?"

Behind him, Mirajane's smile cracked a bit, and she promptly hid her face in her hands as her shoulders started shaking.

Gray turned around immediately, taking on a rather sheepish countenance as he raised his hands in front of him. "Ah...so it was you, Mira?"

Lucy was staring at Gray and the bartender, probably wondering how Gray had made her cry with just one comment, while beside us Elfman shifted – seemingly unconcerned with his sister's sudden change of emotional state. Then again, he'd probably seen it quite often. "I can acknowledge Natsu and Gray as men," the white-haired man commented, "but there are far stronger men in the Guild."

Levy, standing with Jet and Droy a little ways over, spoke up. "Erza _is_ probably the strongest woman in the Guild..."

Jet took up the vein of the conversation. "But if we're talking about the guys, then there're Laxus, Mystogan..."

"And _that_ old geezer." Droy finished, seeming to wince at the very thought.

Mirajane sniffed, wiping tears away from her eyes. "I just...thought that they would get along so well..."

I raised an eyebrow, as Lucy pointed out that she'd been worried about them _not_ getting along when she sent the two of us to go and play the mediators with them.

"Well, one way or another, this'll be an interesting battle." Elfman declared, while just to the side of him, Gray raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? Personally, I'm expecting Erza to get an overwhelming victory."

I shrugged, as Lucy kept chewing her lip and glancing between the two fighters. "I dunno – I think Natsu'll put up a good fight, but I guess Erza will probably win."

Our conversation stopped there, since Erza let out a whimsical sigh and began to speak. "How long has it been, since we first crossed Magics?" She wondered aloud, and across from her Natsu growled.

"That was years ago!" He declared. "Today's gonna be different – today, _I'm_ gonna win!"

A dangerous smile grew on Erza's face, just as she began to glow. "I suppose I'd better take this seriously..." She mused, her form becoming indistinct through the light of her Magic. "I want to test my power, after all!"

The light finally died down, and revealed the newly Requipped Flame Emperor's armour.

The armour was predominantly dark red in color, though some parts were orange and black, with the orange parts being shaped like flames and the other parts being reminiscent of Dragons' limbs. The breastplate lacked pauldrons, revealing Erza's shoulders where a pair of Dragon-like wings extended from her back. The black extended down to cover her groin, revealing her legs like a one piece swimming suit, with an orange part covering her breasts and another one circling her waist like a belt.

The gauntlets sported prominent orange decorations, along with small claw-like protrusions on the hands. The greaves were shaped like Dragons' claws, possessing orange knee guards and black parts extending up from the knees to the upper part of the thighs.

And, just for style, her blood-red hair was fashioned into two pigtails.

As another Mage commented across the circle, I knew that Erza had basically just increased her resistance to Fire Magic by a full _half_ – a massive advantage over Natsu, who only had Fire Magic to fight with alongside his physical strength, which was far outstripped by Erza herself.

An already difficult fight for the Dragon Slayer had just gone straight to 'practically unwinnable' – and judging by Happy's reaction of going to change the bet he'd placed on his partner to Erza, even the cat knew what the outcome was likely to be.

Lucy shouted at him, before turning back to the fighters and biting her lip again. "I can't decide which one of them I want to win..." She groaned, and I chuckled to myself as Gray muttered about her being pure-hearted from a little ways in front of us.

In the ring, Natsu didn't follow any of the normal protocol for having the difficulty level of a situation skyrocket exponentially. Instead of panicking, despairing or even resigning himself...he grinned. "Flame Emperor's armour, huh..." His hands clenched into fists and then burst into flame as he crouched low, ready to kick off. "Bring it on – this just means I can go all-out without any regrets!"

Makarov stepped forward from the crowd, staff behind his back, and coughed into his hand before raising it over his head in a fist...and then swinging forward. "Begin!"

* * *

Watching Natsu and Erza going all-out was probably one of the most impressive displays of combat prowess I had seen since coming to Earthland.

Natsu's fighting style was a constant charge, never letting up or paying much attention to defence. Flames surrounded him like a cloak, bursting from his fists and feet whenever he launched a strike, the temperature easily felt even from the edge of the circle.

Erza was far more in control, but no less powerful for it. Her weapon, a broadsword done in the same colours as her armour, blazed no less brightly than the Dragon Slayer as it cut the air, always passing within inches of its target's flesh.

It was a balls-to-the-wall assault versus economy of movement, neither seemingly able to land a decisive blow as they moved back and forth. Natsu's attacks grew larger as time went by, licking at the observers in the circle (much to their displeasure), while Erza kept on meeting him blow for blow.

The redhead leaned back from a sudden kick to her head, moving back as Natsu broke away as well. Each took deep breaths, eyes locked with their opponents, a tingling like electricity rising in the air as they refused to look away.

It took effort to break my gaze away from the fight for a moment – but when I did, I found my shoulders slumping and a breath leaving my lips as relief rolled over me.

No messenger from the Council. Proof positive – I, Declan Ross, had made a semi-significant alteration to the fate of this world as I knew it.

I glanced surreptitiously at the sky, but when no massive lightning bolt came down to smite me for my blasphemous meddling in God's plan, I decided I was probably safe from that angle.

Some quick prodding also assured me that I wasn't fading away a la Back to the Future, so that was a bonus.

The tension racked up again in the fighting circle, and thankfully the noise hid my muffled, maniacal laughter. I knew for sure, now – I had _autonomy_. Free will, to do as I pleased in this world without consequences not of my own making.

I was _free_ – and the feeling was just like consciously performing a spell all over again.

"Uh, Declan?"

I broke out of my stifled cackling to glance sideways at Lucy – who seemed to have grown shorter suddenly? "Declan, you're...kind of floating..."

A quick blink and a glance downward revealed that, indeed, I had left the ground without noticing. "Whoops..." I muttered, lowering myself to ground level with a somewhat awkward expression. Losing control over one's Magic was fairly common during periods of high emotion – but it was still rather embarrassing. "Thanks for pointing it out, Lucy."

"No problem." She mumbled, her attention brought back to Natsu and Erza, both of whom had charged fairly massive fireballs. They stared each other down for a moment longer before sprinting forward, fist and blade swinging as one.

Flame met flame, and the detonation of mixed heat and kinetic energy that spread from it in a shockwave knocked over several of the Mages in the circle, while those closest to the action hurriedly patted out small fires on their clothing and the rest of us shielded our eyes from the rushing wind.

It kept on for several seconds before dying down, and once it had we could get a good view of the 'arena'.

Erza was still standing tall, breathing a bit heavily but otherwise showing no signs of fatigue or injury, staring downwards at her opponent. Natsu was lying on the ground, looking completely out of it as he rested in a crater of wrecked cobblestones.

"Erza wins!" Makarov declared, and all around the circle Mages started groaning or cheering, moving over to where Cana had set up a betting stand to collect their winnings or pay their debts.

"Told you." Gray smirked, shaking his head and chuckling to himself as he looked at Natsu. "Overwhelming victory."

I shrugged again. "Still better than I'd have done, so..."

Lucy nodded emphatically beside me, shivering a bit in place – probably putting herself in Natsu's shoes and letting her imagination throw up who knew how many horrors.

Deciding to break her out of that, I tapped her on the shoulder, keeping on eye on Shadow Gear as they headed back inside the Guild. Jet and Droy had broken off to visit Cana, meaning Levy was probably going to claim their usual table, and I figured this was as good a time as any. "C'mon, Lucy – let's go get a drink. I don't know about you, but my throat's pretty dry now."

The blonde blinked her way out of her imagination, then nodded a couple of times. "That sounds like a good idea."

We started heading inside, though I broke away from my teammate for a moment to grab my _other_ teammate by the scruff of his neck and sling him over my back. I'd decided to adopt this as my 'Natsu-was-an-idiot' rescue position, since I could pull it off easily enough and it properly conveyed to him, in my opinion, that he had done something worthy of being treated like an errant pet.

Okay, perhaps not that badly – but it could serve as something like being put in the time-out corner, while also giving him a rest for a while. It worked, that was what mattered.

I sat Natsu down on one of the Guild's benches, his head flopping forward to rest on the table when I did so. He should be fine resting there for now.

With the resident Dragon Slayer (well...the first of them, anyway) getting his beauty sleep, I followed Lucy over to the bar where she had pulled up a stool and a flagon of...something. I wasn't entirely sure what, but since there was a somewhat fruity tinge to the air, I expected it was either wine or something along the lines of Mead Velour – either of which fit quite well with my mental image of Lucy Heartfilia.

Mirajane gave me a smile and a bottle of my usual drink before I even greeted her, so I offered her a good morning while passing her the required payment. "So, how did that compare to their first fight, Mirajane?" I asked, glancing around the room as I asked to try and catch a glimpse of Levy's distinctive hair.

"Hm...well really, even though this one was at a far higher level, it went almost exactly the same way." She replied, and Lucy hummed.

"So Erza has always been that much more powerful than Natsu?"

The bartender nodded, leaning her elbows on the bar and resting her chin on her laced fingers. "Pretty much. She, Natsu and Gray all joined the Guild young, and their standing relative to each other has stayed mostly the same ever since."

"I see..." Lucy murmured, taking another pull from her drink as I did likewise. I hadn't been kidding about the dry throat – that high-temperature pressure wave had done a number on anyone who breathed it in.

I finally caught sight of Levy – predictably enough, at the same table as yesterday – and I nudged Lucy to get her attention. "Hey, Lucy – I made a new friend yesterday. Do you wanna go meet her?"

The blonde seemed to consider it for a moment, then nodded. "That sounds good, yeah."

I picked up my bottle, Lucy following along behind me as I made my way across the room toward Levy. People were still trickling in from outside, so it was relatively quiet when I settled down at the table beside Levy's, Lucy choosing to sit beside me rather than take one of the free chairs on either side of the blunette.

Our motion drew Levy's eye away from her book, and she gave me a smile on recognising my face. "Hey, Declan – it's good to see you."

"Likewise, Levy." I assured her, tilting my bottle and head in her direction before jerking my head back toward Lucy. "Levy, I'd like you to meat my teammate and a good friend of mine, Lucy. Lucy, this is Levy McGarden – probably the smartest person in Fairy Tail, and a girl after your own heart."

I indicated the book lying open in front of the Solid Script Mage, and Lucy's expression brightened even further. Academics weren't exactly rare among Mages, not with the amount of time they spent studying to learn how to use their Magic properly, but it was surprisingly rare to find a Mage who dedicated any decent amount of time to reading anything but textbooks or historical references.

Having three of us in one place was an unexpected pleasure for her, I was sure – even if I still had quite a bit of catching up to do to reach their level. "Like Declan said, I'm Lucy." My teammate offered her hand across the table, and Levy shook it easily.

"And I'm Levy. You know you and your team have raised quite the stir lately?"

Lucy flushed a bit, sighing to herself as she nodded happily. "Yeah – I never thought would be part of such a big incident so soon after joining the Guild!"

I wasn't sure whether to find the gleam in her eyes disturbing or amusing. We _had_ been thwarting a terrorist plot to destabilise the government – but now, the memory seemed more exciting than sobering.

Ah, well – I'd been fairly excited myself during some parts of it, so I guess I couldn't begrudge her.

"Indeed," Levy nodded. "I mean, taking on a Dark Guild _and_ a demon on your second ever job? That's unheard of!"

Lucy turned an even brighter shade of red, cupping her own cheeks in what I was fairly sure was embarrassment. "Well, I guess that _is_ kinda awesome..."

Now I _had_ to chuckle as I pushed my fist lightly against her shoulder, leaning back a bit in my seat. "Yes, you _are_ awesome, Lucy – just don't let it go to your head, 'kay?"

The blonde sputtered for a moment, before giggling to herself and nodding. "Right – I suppose being part of the 'strongest team' was a bit of an ego trip."

"Yeah..." I replied, though I probably didn't sound all there. I was thinking of the various other Mages I had seen or knew of that Fairy Tail had come into contact with. Phantom Lord was coming closer and closer, and I wasn't entirely sure what I was supposed to do.

Losing the Guild building would certainly be unfortunate - but I ascribed to Makarov's belief on the subject; wood and stone could be gathered, shaped and used to rebuild. Fairy Tail wasn't just a building, even if I didn't yet understand just _what_ exactly it was.

But I wasn't willing to let Gajeel get his hands on Shadow Gear.

The problem was, I didn't know when he had attacked them. I didn't have an exact date for it, just that the attack on the Guild came at night. Assuming Team Natsu left Galuna Island for Hargeon, it would take something like a day to make the trip. Assuming they got a carriage, it would then take another several hours to reach Magnolia. Thus, they had probably reached home some time around the late afternoon.

Erza had changed into her pyjamas when they discovered Shadow Gear – so it was probably in the evening or...perhaps the next morning? Could they have been left in place since the night before...?

No – that was highly unlikely. Someone would have seen them earlier and called the guard if there were three badly injured people hanging from a tree by one of Magnolia's cardinal entrances. The far more logical assumption was that Shadow Gear came through the southern entrance on their way back from a job, and ran into Gajeel coming the other way – or perhaps were hunted down, since Phantom Lord was aware of most of Fairy Tail's members' capabilities. One way or another, they probably hadn't been there too long before Fairy Tail arrived.

And that gave me an opportunity.

My Magic was well-suited to travel. I knew I could do an entire ship at once, and carriages weren't a problem either. So, I should be able to shave several hours off our travel time however I sliced it, and if worst came to worst, it should be possible for me to simply lift our team and travel that way. It wouldn't earn me any favours with Natsu, but it _was_ doable.

Assuming the others trusted me enough that their magical power didn't naturally lash out and break my hold on them, that is. It had worked during the drive to Oshibana, but I couldn't expect that same level of trust to hold outside of such a high-stakes situation.

But the point was, I had options, and the possibility existed that I would be able to get us back home in time to get Shadow Gear out of danger somehow.

"...clan? Declan!"

I startled a bit, jumping a little in my seat and turning to look at Lucy and Levy, both of whom were giving me slightly puzzled looks. "You just completely zoned out," my teammate noted. "What were you thinking about so hard?"

I was careful to make sure that my gaze didn't flicker to Levy when I answered, mostly by closing my eyes and rubbing the back of my head as if I was sheepish. "Sorry, I was just remembering Lullaby. Natsu, Gray and Erza are pretty epic, aren't they?"

Lucy nodded emphatically. "Yeah. They'd be scary, if they weren't...well, them."

Levy chuckled, nodding along with both of us. "I know what you mean, Lucy. I've known them for years, and I still have trouble putting their abilities and their personalities side by side sometimes."

The conversation turned on to Levy's experiences with the Guild in past years after that, with the two girls mostly carrying the conversation, leaving me to my thoughts.

Phantom Lord...before they turned up, I would need to find time to practice – and practice _hard_. The techniques I would need to hold my own in that fight weren't finished yet, but they needed to be and _soon_. For my sake, and for Lucy's.

* * *

I left the Guild somewhat early that afternoon, bidding farewell to Levy and Lucy as I went. Both women were still buried in their conversation revolving around books that I had made mental notes to go looking for later, Jet and Droy finding themselves largely ignored in the face of it.

Instead of going straight home, I kicked off the ground once I was out the door, lifting into the air above Magnolia and casting my eyes around. Fairy Tail was on the northern beach-front, while the city's western flank looked out over the plains to a mountain range and its eastern flank was a forest, with the southern entrance heading toward Hargeon and the ocean.

I chose to head down to the beach, moving along it until I found a decent collection of large boulders and touched down there.

Walking up to a rock the size of my body, I stared at it for a long moment, reaching out to touch it with a sense that was neither touch nor sight but rather both. Reaching out to brush my fingers over it, the whole thing pulled up and out of the sand easily, and I raised my hand to eye-level, eyeing the boulder.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." I muttered to myself, before my magical power started ramping up and I began my practice.

 _'Within the next week or so, I need to be able to face down any member of the Element Four, Gajeel, or their giant walking fortress - or any combination of those.'_

It sounded impossible. A week wasn't enough time to make an appreciable rise in magical power, and though I was closing the gap with time, I still wasn't on the same level of magical power as, say, Natsu or Gray. Sure, no-one ranking below Gajeel should be capable of fighting my Magic in Phantom Lord, but I just wasn't at the level I needed to reach yet.

So, I would do what any good Mage does. I would _cheat_ , with an advantage I had that no-one else did.

I was going to science the _shit_ out of this.


	7. VI - Wavelength

I turned in _very_ early the next morning, forgoing a meal in the interests of reaching my bed more quickly. Practice had been long, exhausting and quite frustrating – but I felt like I was getting closer to achieving the result I wanted, which made the entire thing worth it.

I slept almost until afternoon before my stomach dragged me out of bed, through the shower and into the kitchen, whereupon I chopped up several random fruits and dropped them into my porridge to complement my usual fare.

Once the growling in my belly had stopped, I took the time to throw together the things I thought I would need for a week-long mission before leaving my backpack just by my bedroom window, where I could retrieve it quickly if needs be.

Preparations complete, I made my way out of the door, and off to Fairy Tail.

When I arrived, Natsu and Gray were rolling around on the floor as the centrepiece of a large-scale brawl, one which Erza, Levy and Lucy were all sitting out. The former was delicately eating away at a strawberry cake, the latter was wincing every time part of the furniture was crushed or one of the combatants was launched up and away from the melee, and the second was, as could be expected, reading a book – though she took the time to fire disapproving stares over the top of it every now and then.

"Morning, everyone." I greeted them, pulling up a seat by the table. The three Mages returned the greetings before all glancing toward the brawl, then back to me. I shrugged. "I might get a little fight crazy, but I'm not _that_ crazy."

Levy nodded approvingly, while Lucy let out a sigh of relief. Erza didn't seem particularly bothered one way or another, simply returning to her cake.

"So I take it Gray couldn't help but taunt Natsu over yesterday's match?" I asked, contemplating the effort to reward ratio of floating over the battling Mages so I could get a drink from Mirajane.

"Of course." Levy answered, while Lucy let out another sigh and placed her head on the table for a moment, grumbling to herself. "I don't think there's _ever_ been a time when those two could keep their tongues in check around one another...of their own volition."

It didn't take a genius to know why the blunette glanced at Erza when she was finishing her sentence.

I shook my head, before loosing a massive yawn. Odd – I had only woken up a while ago, and even if I hadn't had a proper night's rest I was still used to operating on less sleep...

Then I noticed that everyone else was doing much the same thing, with eyes drooping all around and a general air of grogginess which was only growing stronger with time.

 _'This guy...would make a fortune as a babysitter...'_ Was my last coherent thought, before everything went grey and quiet.

* * *

When I awoke once again, it took me a few moments to shake off the last of the cobwebs and sit upright – I'd fallen forwards on my arms, at least, so no mark on my forehead.

Glancing to my sides, I could see that Levy had passed out in her book, Lucy had already been resting her head on the table, and Erza...

Had somehow formed a protective bridge over her cake in her _sleep?_ _'...Note to self: never touch the cake. It is most definitely_ not _a lie.'_

And there was me going off on pop culture references in my own head _again_. Was my brain using them more to stop me forgetting them in a world where I couldn't be reminded otherwise...?

...That just made it sound like I'd been brainwashed. With _memes_.

Maybe I should ask about seeing a psychiatrist sometime... Then again, they'd probably run a mile from anyone with the Fairy Tail emblem. Oh well.

Dissatisfied grumbling rose around the room, along with a few curses – probably from people who had fallen asleep in food or drink, or who had fallen from their seats when the spell took hold of them.

Lucy caught the gist of them. "Who's Mystogan..?"

"One of the candidates for 'strongest Mage' in Fairy Tail." The answer came from the stylishly-dressed, playboy-esque Loke where he was standing beside our table near Lucy, staring at the door with an inscrutable look in place.

That only lasted long enough for him to see who he had answered and was standing beside, at which point his expression became terrified and he seemed to almost teleport back a good metre or so.

Gray spoke up from the floor, where everyone who had been taking part in the brawl was pulling themselves upright, the mood having been well and truly lost. "He's got some kind of problem with people seeing him, so he always puts the Guild to sleep before he comes to take a job."

Lucy blinked several times, glancing at the door incredulously. "That sounds _so_ shady..."

Gray shrugged, pulling up another seat at the table. "Yeah, well – that's the way he is. Only the Master knows Mystogan's face."

"Well," a voice drawled its way into the conversation, casual but in no way diminished by the distance it needed to cross – probably because the entire room fell silent when it was first heard. "Not _just_ the Master. I know it as well, after all."

Voices rose around the room once he stopped speaking, but I just looked up at the figure on the balcony, taking him in as best I could – I wouldn't have many chances to see this man, before we ended up on different sides of a battlefield.

Spiky yellow hair was set above a face right out of a fashion magazine, its looks not detracted from by the jagged scar running from above the centre of the right eyebrow down across the eye itself without damaging it, before zig-zagging like a lightning bolt to terminate on the right cheek, its bottom tip level with his mouth – one which now had a lit cigar clenched between its teeth.

Orange eyes looked out over the crowd lazily, as if it weren't really worth their owner's time – the fact that he still had his black, spike-decorated headphones in place just added to the image.

He was tall and muscular – that was obvious even under the large black, fur-lined coat slung over his shoulders. His shirt was cheetah-patterned, with brown diamonds set on dirty-yellow. His trousers were a dark red colour, leading down to polished black shoes.

Laxus Dreyer...the artificial Lightning Dragon Slayer, the grandson of Makarov Dreyer, and the man who turned Fairy Tail on itself so he could destroy the Guild and build it back up from the ground.

And despite that, there were few people who loved Fairy Tail more than he did.

I stared at him, as Gray informed Lucy of Laxus' status as one of the candidates for 'Fairy Tail's Strongest Mage'. I really wasn't sure of what to do about him...on the one hand, his Thunder Palace would place Magnolia itself at risk, and all the people in her. On the other hand, Fairy Tail had emerged stronger from the battle, old wounds healed over and new bonds forged.

Honestly, as Natsu had said at the time, I couldn't see anything wrong with finding out just who was the strongest...

So long as I could interfere with the circumstances a bit. I wasn't letting Evergreen turn my friends to stone – no way in Hell.

I was broken from my reverie when Natsu climbed up from the floor, jumped on a table and immediately challenged his fellow Dragon Slayer (even if Natsu didn't know that) to a fight.

That mostly settled me, seeing the teen staring up defiantly at the older Mage. Natsu could handle Laxus – with a little help, of course, but he _could_ handle him.

I'd put my trust in my teammate on this front.

One of the other Mages tried to talk Natsu down by reminding him that he'd already lost to Erza just the previous day, and a smug expression suffused Laxus' face. "He's right you know." He commented around his cigar. "If you can't even beat Erza, you've not got a hope of beating me."

From the table where I sat, an ominous sensation began emanating outwards from the redhead in question, who stood up slowly and glared right at Laxus, not giving an inch. "And what do you mean by _that_ , Laxus?"

Not far from her, the Mage who I remembered seeing at yesterday's fight – Max, I thought his name might be – hissed at her to keep calm, though it seemed to have very little effect on the staring contest as Laxus threw his arms wide atop the balcony, which had the effect of spreading his coat out as well.

 _'He's like a lizard puffing out his neck to look bigger. Or maybe he thinks he's Batman?'_

Those mental images immediately broke me out of whatever tension I might have been feeling, and I had to hide my smirk behind my hand even as the Lightning Dragon Slayer proclaimed his position as the strongest Mage in Fairy Tail, getting Natsu worked up even more.

"Get down here and fight, you bastard!"

The malicious look on Laxus' face only grew wider. "Why don't you come up here?"

Natsu took off like a shot across the Guild floor, moving straight for the stairs up to the second level at a speed I would be pushed to match – and found himself unable to go any further, as Makarov's hand and arm grew to many times their normal size and slammed him into the floor like a hammer on a particularly obstinate nail.

From where he had been sitting on the bar all morning, Makarov's quiet voice easily carried over to everyone listening. "Natsu, you know you can't go up to second floor... _yet_."

I heard the implication there – that Makarov firmly believed in Natsu's ability to attain that privilege at some point in the future – but the Dragon Slayer himself was either too inexperienced with subtext or currently too worked up to listen, since he was glaring daggers at Laxus from where he was trapped beneath the massive fist, the other Mage leaning over the balcony with a mocking look on his face. "Hah – you got scolded!"

Really, his behaviour was rather childish – but it worked on Natsu, so that might be calculated on Laxus' part. One way or another, the _Look_ Makarov shot him from the one eye he deigned to open was unmistakably a warning. "You'd better stop too, Laxus."

The Dragon Slayer grunted, but pulled back from the balcony, turning once more to the main room to deliver his final words. "I'll never give up my position as Fairy Tail's strongest!" He declared, holding up one hand as if clutching something invisible. "Not to Erza, not to Mystogan, not even to _that_ geezer!"

He turned his back, walking back to wherever it was that he spent his spare time, his voice still reaching the Guild proper.

"I am...the strongest!"

* * *

Conversation was a bit quiet after that, and I chose to go through one drink with the others before heading out for the day.

Lucy should learn about S-Class Mages today, then head back home in the evening to discover Natsu and Happy had taken the Galuna Island job from the requests board. That left me until...probably somewhere between six and seven in the evening to keep up my practice.

It was back to the beach to me, touching down amidst the boulders I had first started using – of which there were noticeably fewer now.

Cracking my fingers, I moved to one particularly large rock, summoning my magical power as my Magic Circle lit up. The sound of grinding rock filled the air as I worked, but I was too much focussed on my work to pay attention to it.

I _would_ grow stronger. I would grow stronger, and I would keep moving forward with Fairy Tail, until I could understand.

But for now, I needed to get this technique working properly, so I buckled down and settled in for the long haul.

* * *

I touched down outside my home hours later, fatigued but still conscious, covered in rock dust, sand and water. Six times out of ten today – much better than yesterday. But still, not enough. Nowhere _near_ enough.

I took a long shower after tossing my clothes into my hamper, then started mashing up potatoes after beginning the process of cooking a steak.

It wasn't exactly a fancy meal, but I _could_ eat it, and that was what mattered.

When I had finished cramming my stomach full of sustenance, I decided to go and loiter outside to see if I could catch Lucy on her way home. To that end, I perched on the side of the canal outside our apartments, looking up into the sky and examining the stars as they appeared.

I wasn't exactly an astronomer – I knew mostly how things _worked_ up there, but I didn't know where everything _was_ – but I could at least spot some of the big names. The Plough, Orion, Ursa Major...I might be wrong, but I was fairly sure that the constellations here were almost exactly the same as back on Earth.

Really, I was fairly sure that Earthland must be some kind of parallel reality to my own. I didn't know if such a thing was proven with Magic to exist, but even if it was, I had to consider whether I would really want to go home.

My relationship with my family was...strained, when I last saw them. Family was important to both of my parents, and my choice to basically ignore them in favour of Heather hadn't been well-received. I didn't know if the damage done to our relationship was repairable – but even if it was, I didn't know if I had enough motivation to put in the effort needed to fix it.

As for my brother...well, I might have been nominally the older brother, but I was also basically a shut-in socially. Max was always far more outgoing, much more with the times. By the time we were both teenagers, he had overtaken me, so to speak.

It wasn't like we were strangers in the same house or anything, but we didn't have the usual brotherly relationship, so I figured he'd be fine with me fully out of the picture now.

My thoughts of home persisted, and I just sat staring at the night sky, idly wondering what was happening under stars so very similar to these ones. Was I missed? Was anyone looking for me? Had my absence from the world really changed anything?

...Probably not. That was the big difference between Earth and Earthland – back 'home', I was an above-average student with few social skills who would, at best, have gone on to design and create a semi-popular video game. _Maybe._

Here? Here, I was a Mage. A Fairy Tail Mage with a rare ability, a part of Team Natsu – the strongest team in this generation of Fairy Tail Mages, no matter what Laxus might say.

Here I had power, the ability to change things, perhaps even for the better. And that, if nothing else, was reason enough for me to stay and do my best.

"Declan? What are you doing out here?"

I pulled myself out of my thoughts at the sound of my teammate's voice, turning sideways to find that Lucy was balanced on the wall of the canal where I was sitting, bag in one hand and a curious expression on her face.

I spared her a smile, rising from my seat as I looked upward once more. "I was stargazing, I guess." Not really a lie – I _was_ staring at the stars, even if they weren't really what I was seeing. "I don't think I'm very good at it, though – since you have the keys to several of those constellations' spirits, I'd bet you're better at it than I am."

Like she usually did when complimented, Lucy smiled widely and went just a little red. "Oh, I'm not that good really~" She waved her hand a bit, although the slightly proud expression she was wearing told me her thought process was probably running a different way.

I shook my head a bit before glancing at Lucy's apartment, seeing a light on in one of the windows, and huffing a breath that caught my teammate's attention. "I think you've got another visitor." I told her dryly, drawing her attention to the windows of her apartment, which prompted her to let out a burst of frustrated breath. "Do you mind if I come in too? It's probably Natsu with something we need to know."

Lucy raised one eyebrow at me, and I shrugged. "Well, there's a pattern here, isn't there?"

She paused, then remembered what I'd pointed out the day before and heaved another sigh before nodding. "I guess...come in, then."

We crossed the road to enter her apartment, and as I had predicted we came across Natsu and Happy exercising in Lucy's living room.

While she laid into them about not doing this in their own home, I waited out the rant until the partners finally got around to why they were here. "I've made a decision."

Though he was in the middle of a push-up, the sudden switch of Natsu's voice from the mix of playful amusement and oblivious laughter that usually characterised the Dragon Slayer's tone to determined was enough to catch both Lucy and I's attention, as he looked up and Happy produced a piece of paper with a rustle.

"Lucy, Declan, we're going to do an S-Class job!"

When Happy presented the page detailing the Galuna Island job, Lucy's expression promptly changed to one of shocked horror, while I myself shivered – just seeing this, I was forced to think about having Erza as an enemy.

I held out my hand to Happy, and the cat placed the poster in my hand so I could look it over. As I was doing so, Lucy yelled at the feline for stealing it from the second-floor request board, before Natsu took over in trying to persuade her to follow them along.

"I know this is our first S-class job," he was saying. "So, I made sure to take the cheapest one – and _look_. That's still _seven million Jewels._ "

Seven million Jewels – the equivalent of something like seventy-thousand pounds, by my reckoning. Perhaps not a truly impressive amount by Earth's standards – but considering Earthland's considerably lower-priced economy, it was the kind of windfall that the average civilian could only ever dream of receiving.

Lucy paused for a moment, but shook her head vehemently, protesting that none of us were qualified for S-class jobs.

"Well yeah..." Natsu agreed, putting his scarf and waistcoat back on. "But if we manage it...won't Gramps approve of us?"

Lucy let out a long sigh, collapsing into her desk chair and supporting her face with one arm, resting her elbow on the desk. "You're so reckless...can't you at least follow the rules of your own Guild?"

As Natsu complained that if he did that he'd never have got a job from the second floor, I rolled up the poster again and tapped it into my palm, thinking.

We had to take the job – that was a given. More, we had to have Gray along with us; he _needed_ the closure that this job could give him, just as much as Lyon needed it. But, at the same time, letting this play out as it did before didn't sit right with me. Call me Chaotic Good, but following a set timeline just wasn't my thing.

So, what could I do to shake things up a bit...

 _'Oh...oh, that might just work...'_

I coughed to get the others' attention just as Natsu and Happy were preparing to leave through the window, holding up the poster. "Actually, I think doing this job might actually be a good thing."

Lucy stared at me, her gaze becoming horrified again, as a massive grin started spreading across Natsu's features. I continued my explanation. "Lucy, one of the rewards for this job is a Zodiac Key – you're trying to collect those, aren't you?"

The blonde nodded, suddenly seeing this job in a whole different light, as I levelled the poster at Natsu like a sword. "Now Natsu – you know that they'll send someone after us quickly, right? We're gonna be in some serious trouble when we get back – are you ready for that?"

The Dragon Slayer met my eyes, suppressing a flippant response for a firm nod. "Yeah. I talked you guys into this team, right? That means it's my responsibility."

I grinned at the answer, nodding. "Alright. In that case, we all get packed tonight and leave for Hargeon in the morning. Since only Laxus, Mirajane and the Master go upstairs at all, they shouldn't notice it's missing until after we've left. So get a good night's sleep, and we'll meet early at the south gate."

Both my teammates nodded, and I headed to the window like Natsu and Happy, turning to offer another genial nod to Lucy. "See you in the morning, Lucy."

Then I jumped off the sill, falling out of sight – only to rise up in to the air out of the Celestial Spirit Mage's view, and immediately turn toward Fairy Tail.

Time to mix things up.

* * *

The Guild was still open when I got there, though there were very few people around.

Mirajane smiled at me when I entered, but grew more serious when she caught sight of the expression on my face as I approached. "Mirajane, do you know where the Master is?" I asked, and the bartender nodded.

"Yes – he's in the upstairs lounge at the moment. Do you want me to call him down?"

I nodded, then paused before adding, "Actually, do you think you could get a message to Erza to come down here too? I know it's late, but this is going to involve her too."

Mirajane gave me a searching look for a long moment, before nodding. "I'll give her a call."

"Thanks, Mirajane."

The bartender disappeared upstairs for a little while, coming down with Makarov in his usual jester's outfit, before going out the back – presumably to go and contact Erza.

"So, Declan." The old man greeted me, taking his usual seat on the bar with his staff in one hand. "What do you need me for?"

I took a deep breath, hoping that this wasn't going to backfire spectacularly, before reaching inside my coat to produce the rolled-up Galuna Island job poster and unfurling it, letting Makarov read it.

He stared at it for a long moment, as if he had temporarily forgotten how to breath, before looking from the paper to me, expression becoming much more serious. "How did you get this?"

Shuddering slightly at the hard look in the Guild Master's eyes, I placed the paper on the bar. "From Happy – he just took it off the request board."

Makarov kept looking me in the eyes, probably looking for any sign that I was lying, before closing his eyes and letting out a long sigh. I thought it sounded rather like 'Laxus'.

"So?" He asked, looking up again. "Why are you bringing this to me? I'm sure you must have a reason."

I nodded, glancing at the back door again before my gaze returned to Makarov. "Natsu really wants us to do this job," I began, seeing the twitch in Makarov's eyebrow. "You know him better than I do, so you'd understand his reasons better, but I think he really wants to prove that he's strong enough for this."

The old man let out another sigh, grumbling under his breath and pressing one hand to his own forehead. "So of course, he's asked his team to come with him."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Lucy could really use the Zodiac Key they're offering as payment, and personally...I think this'll be good for us. As individuals and as a team."

There was nothing quite like shared effort to forge closer bonds – or so every book on leadership I'd ever read had told me.

Makarov grunted, motioning me to continue. "Still, I don't want to risk us getting expelled from the Guild, or getting injured because we bit off more than we can chew. So, I figured there was only really one way for us to go on this job without getting in trouble for it."

The old man's eyes glinted, and as if on cue, the back door opened to admit Erza and Mirajane. I turned to look at them, Makarov doing likewise, the gleam in his eye getting stronger. He turned back to me, raising one eyebrow, and I nodded at the unasked question.

Makarov stared at me for a few moments longer, searching my eyes for...well, I wasn't sure what, but something. I guess he found it too, since he started to chuckle. Then, that chuckle became full-blown laughter, and he slapped his knee several times as he rocked back and forth a bit, two bemused female Mages watching from behind him until he calmed down.

Letting out a cleansing sigh, he picked up the poster from the wood, drawing Mirajane and Erza's abruptly widened eyes, and eyed it for a few moments. Then, he looked over his shoulder to Erza. "Say, Erza – what do you say to taking a few of the other kids with you on a trip, eh?"

* * *

 _Makarov's POV_

Makarov watched as the Ross kid left via the front door, kicking off into the air as he passed the entryway, while Erza left via the same entrance she'd used coming in.

Normally, Erza was a stickler for the rules – it was why he rarely had to step in when his kids got rowdy; she kept them in line entirely on her own. Well, so long as no-one touched her cake...

Still, after being assured that this was being done with his blessing, she had acquiesced to the request. She was like a dutiful granddaughter – even if her manner of showing it could be a bit skewed on occasion.

Contrary to what Ross probably believed, Makarov already knew about what he'd been doing before arriving in Magnolia with Natsu. More than one Fairy Tail Mage had passed through Hargeon in the last six months, bringing back stories about the handyman turned deputy guardsman who kept the town safe.

Having someone standing up for others using their Magic was always good for Makarov's heart, and so he'd had no reservations about allowing the young man entrance into the Guild. He was already repaying the kindness, too – between the amount the Guild had been paid for uncovering Duke Everlue's insidious actions, as well as the payment the Council had (grudgingly) handed over for their handling of the Lullaby/Eisenwald situation (that was the best thing about Dark Guilds – almost all their members had bounties) _and_ the rather impressive leash on the collateral damage, Fairy Tail was actually doing rather well for itself at the moment.

Natsu certainly knew how to pick 'em.

The kid had balls, too – not even two weeks into his membership and he walked straight up to the Guild Master to ask about taking an S-class job. With his team, admittedly – had he asked about doing it solo Makarov would have pounded the kid into the floor to try and beat some of the stupid out of him.

This _would_ be good for them, though – the kid was right about that. Natsu was someone who knew what he wanted in life – he wanted to find his father, and he wanted to make Igneel proud of him by growing stronger, which necessitated picking a fight with anyone and everyone he could find that could give him a challenge.

It would be adorable, if it weren't for the harassment complaints and all the property damage.

Still, being allowed to go on an S-class job should hopefully give him better insight into just what being an S-class Mage meant, while at the same time satisfying some of his lust for adventure.

Of course, that was the reasoning behind Erza tailing them, rather than going alongside them. If she was with them from the start, Natsu might feel like he was being coddled or pick a fight with her, which could lead to a disaster on an S-class job. No, it was far better to have Erza keep a largely discreet eye on them, and step in when it became necessary.

He took a swig from the flagon in his hand, recalling idly his own times with his team, and the thrill of adventure he'd felt on his own first S-class job.

He smiled behind his moustache. It was always so heartening to see his kids growing up...

But still, those three weren't the only ones who could grow from this. Perhaps it would be a good idea to do as the kid had suggested, and send out a sacrificial lamb to pursue them... Yes, that sounded like a good idea.

Besides, Lucy and Declan had proven adept enough at playing the diplomatic role. They'd make sure those two didn't just level the island.

Rather, they'd better – or Makarov would take the damage out of their wallets.

* * *

 _Declan's POV_

I went to sleep early after getting back home from Fairy Tail, the better to wake up early the next morning. Once I had done so, I moved swiftly through my morning ritual before grabbing my backpack and stepping out the door into the sunrise.

Lucy wasn't out yet, so I wandered around the side of her apartment and started tapping on the window until she eventually lurched from her bedroom, hair a mess, clothes rumpled, eyes half-lidded with sleep and irritation...

And _utterly_ stunning.

It took some real self control to keep myself from falling off the side of the building in distraction – so, I gestured quickly to her front door, spun one finger in place to hopefully signal she needed to move quickly, then dropped away so I could let my blush rise and then settle in its own time.

Really – there must be something in the water around here (or maybe it was the Ethernano in the air) that created looks like that. How did any teenage male anywhere get anything done without walking into buildings?!

Pushing that thought out of my mind, I waited quietly in front of her building for about fifteen minutes before Lucy emerged, a satchel over her shoulder and a roller bag in her hand.

I raised one eyebrow, then tapped both items – instantly reducing their weight to nil. With that done, I gestured to the roller bag, which Lucy handed over after a moment's consideration.

Once I had it in my hand, I simply slotted it across my lower back as if I were sheathing a weapon, making sure it was settled in place before letting go, keeping a hold on it with nothing but my magic.

It stuck easily, and I nodded to myself – making sure to keep it attached would be a good focus exercise.

With that, Lucy and I set off at a decent pace for the southern gate, where we found our teammate waiting for us, his customary backpack in place and Happy on his shoulder, waving cheerfully to us when we came into view.

I returned the gesture, then looked out of the gate as I drew level with the two – staring in the direction of Hargeon.

First, give Gray his closure and cure the people of Galuna Island's confusion, at the same time freeing Lyon and his companions from the grip of vengeance.

Then, get back in time to keep Gajeel off Shadow Gear.

I took a deep breath – this mission was going to be more of a timed exercise than anything else, from my perspective at least.

I always hated those levels in games too...

Still, Lucy and Natsu were oblivious to my inner thoughts – they had their own considerations, their own expressions as they stared out of the gate, all of us lined up in the road for about a minute.

Then, with a release of breath, we started down the path.

* * *

We had been walking until about noon before we called a halt for lunch and a rest, and at this point I was twitching to just lift my teammates and fly us to Hargeon. Natsu was like a kid on a sugar high with the prospect of doing this mission, and had rarely stopped talking for the entire journey so far. It was almost like having a child asking 'are we there yet' in the seat directly behind you – but worse, because if I didn't know better I'd say Natsu didn't even need to _breathe_.

He was stuffing his face at the moment, which allowed a cessation of speech even if not of noise, and when I looked over at Lucy I couldn't help but let out a quiet sigh. Really, I wasn't entirely sure how she could manage to remain cheerful in the face of the verbal onslaught. It was irritating me more than I'd thought was possible these days (proof that, for all I might smile and laugh around my teammates, they were also more capable of getting under my skin than just about anyone else), but I supposed she was just made of sterner stuff than I was.

That actually made a lot of sense, thinking about it – she had a real strength of character, even if that character was occasionally rather shallow.

Still, this was about as good a time as any for me to broach the subject I'd been thinking about for a while. "Hey, Natsu?"

The Dragon Slayer glanced at me, then finished chewing his current mouthful and swallowed it down, turning fully to look at me. "What is it, Declan?"

I paused for a moment, before nodding toward Happy. "It's just...I've been wondering – how come you can't ride a cart or train, yet Happy carrying you doesn't even make you slightly unwell?"

Natsu gave me an odd look. "That's because Happy isn't transportation – he's my Nakama. I wouldn't get sick when one of my Nakama helps me out."

"Huh." I was acting as if I hadn't heard that before, when really I'd been thinking about if for a while now – still, I was unlikely to get a better time to try and test this than while we were on the road, so... "Then, should I try and give you a lift? Since I'm part of the Guild now..."

In all honesty, I didn't really expect him to say yes. We'd known each other for a grand total of less than two weeks, nowhere near enough time to develop a proper entrust-your-life friendship (Not counting Heather, because there would never be another Heather).

Instead, the Dragon Slayer's eyes lit up, and he nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yeah, I'd forgotten – we haven't had a chance to practice combination attacks yet!"

I blinked several times as Natsu stuffed the rest of his food into the black hole he called a stomach, before turning to me and reaching out with his arms, almost like a child wanting to be lifted. "Alright, let's do this!"

I stared for a few moments, before shaking off my confusion and stepping forward, placing one hand on Natsu's shoulder for a moment as my magical power flowed from within me to surround the Dragon Slayer.

Natsu's own magical power rose in response, meeting mine mid-way and going through...well, the equivalent of two martial artists circling one another, trying to get a feel for each other before the clash. It wasn't like in the car on the way to Oshibana - probably because he was distracted by his terminal Dragon Slayer's Motion Sickness at that time. This was a whole other level of difficulty, even without Natsu making a conscious effort to fight me off.

I considered pulling back, but Natsu frowned in concentration, and the confrontational feeling died away remarkably quickly, leaving my magical power free to spill across the Dragon Slayer's skin like water.

Blinking a few times at the sudden change, I shook my head before pushing off the ground with both feet, sending us both floating into the air slowly. I focussed half on making sure Natsu didn't go twisting all over the place and make piloting an even bigger hassle than it was already, and half on his features, looking for a grimace or a green tinge.

Nothing.

Even when we passed the treetops and I tilted us horizontal to start circling around the clearing, Natsu seemed fine, opening his eyes when he felt the wind in his hair and grinning like a maniac once he saw we were properly airborne, while from below Happy cheered and laughed.

I was stunned enough by the ease with which that had happened that I lowered us both down to the ground before I lost control, staring at my teammate as I almost fell onto the log which had been my seat.

Natsu raised one eyebrow at my somewhat incredulous expression, while Lucy frowned a bit. "Is something wrong Declan?"

I kept looking at him from a moment, before wetting my lips and speaking. "You...really consider me your Nakama?" Natsu nodded, apparently confused. "After the short time we've known each other, you trust me that much?"

The Dragon Slayer focussed on me, his entire attention concentrated through laser-sharp eyes. "I do. You're Fairy Tail – that means you're family. And I _always_ trust my family."

I stared back at the other teen for several long moments, before dropping eye contact to stare at my own hands. _'There's something...something I should be able to_ see _, something I should be_ feeling _. I know it's there – but_ what is it...?'

I looked back a few moments later, bottling up my mounting confusion and a sense of something close to anguish as I stood again, brushing myself off. "Right. Well, we can keep going on foot – but I guess I had better get used to flying with you, Natsu."

The Dragon Slayer nodded, then glanced slyly to where our other human teammate had been sitting and observing. "Sure – but don't you two need to work on it as well? Maybe I should give you some alone tim-"

His sentence was cut off when I conked my fist down on his head, its augmented weight enough to get even Natsu to notice as he cradled his skull for a moment and I rubbed out my hand, glancing idly at him. "Hm? Were you saying something, Natsu?"

"Nope..." He groaned, rubbing his scalp as he stood up properly again. "Not at all."

"Good!" Moving back to where I had been sitting, I picked up my backpack before sliding Lucy's trundle-bag across my lower back again, suckering it there with gravitational attraction. "Now then, let's get back on the road, shall we?"

* * *

We camped for the night in the forest off the side of the road, taking turns to keep watch until sunrise. Lucy took first, followed by me, and then Natsu was the one who stayed on guard until sunrise. He certainly didn't show it when we set off after a morning meal of bread, cheese and dried meat (for the humans, anyway - Happy, as always, produced a fish from some kind of hammer-space); he was just as energetic as ever.

Still, after last night's demonstration, his babbling...didn't seem quite as grating.

We made good time for the second day in a row, reaching Hargeon at mid-day. When we passed over one of the hills surrounding it, providing a bird's-eye view of the town, I paused for a moment to take it in.

It had only been two weeks since I was here, waiting for my cue to step out into the big wide world. It shouldn't have been enough time for a major shift - but already, I knew that while I still felt a certain possessiveness surrounding Hargeon, it had...faded.

This wasn't where I had to be, right now - I could feel it in my bones, if that made any sense at all.

"Oi, Declan, is something wrong?"

Natsu's call had me blinking away my focus, and I jogged to catch up with my teammates, shaking my head as I went. "No - nothing at all."

* * *

I returned quite a few nods and other greetings as we headed through town for the port, addressing the people I knew by name and those I didn't with nods and smiles. It would seem that I was still remembered - though, for Hargeon to have let me pass from their minds after only two weeks was probably an improbable hope in any case.

Lucy was pointing a few things out to Natsu as we went - she'd probably seen more of the town than she might have originally, what with me recommending she tour the sights.

I occasionally added a few details to something she said, if I had them to give - I had lived here for six months, but I wasn't really a Hargeon native, so some of the local cultural nuances still went over my head.

We finally came to where the various ships had pulled in to load or unload their cargo or their crew, and I swept my eye over the various individuals by habit.

 _'About five Mages, all of them devoted to the weather in some respect. Several magical items, though the majority seem to be cargo. No one breaching the 'several weeks at sea' level of shadiness.'_

Finished with my quick hazard-spotting, I considered the ships, looking for one in particular - a long rowing boat, manned by a single individual in a cloak and head-wrapping...

I couldn't spot them immediately, so I turned back to Natsu and Lucy. "Right - we've got a couple of options here. One," I raised a finger, "we go around talking to the various captains trying to find someone who'll take us to Galuna. Or two," a second finger raised, "we go have a talk with the Harbour Master and he can tell us who might be willing without needing to ask everyone."

Lucy nodded at the second option, but Natsu was shaking his head. "No boats! We'll swim - or heck, you can fly us, right Declan?"

I rubbed the back of my head for a few moments, stalling for an excuse while at the same time wondering if I actually _could_ get us there. _'With the right heading I'd have no trouble finding the place - it would just be a matter of keeping everyone balanced and hoping my magical power lasted the journey...'_

Still, that was something to test later. "I _might_ be able to fly us there, but if I can't manage it, we'll all end up stranded with no way of getting back to dry land." I informed him. "Besides, _you_ could probably swim there and back - I certainly pity anything that tries to eat _you_ \- but I'm not as strong as you are, and Lucy's water spirit is..."

I paused to think of a word, but Lucy just let out a long sigh, shooting a slightly forlorn but mostly annoyed look at her keys - one in particular, I imagined. "Yeah...I don't want to think about what Aquarius would do if I asked her to _take_ me somewhere..." She muttered, then shuddered - presumably, she had thought about it.

"So yeah," I continued, "it'll have to be a boat. On the plus side however, I should be able to do more or less what I did to the...four-wheeled magical vehicle...with it as well. That'll cut down on the time we spend on it."

Natsu still didn't look particularly happy, and instead started stretching. "Well then, I'll just swim alongside the boat!"

As Lucy turned to the Dragon Slayer and started trying to talk him out of that course of action, I headed off down the port, aiming to reach one building in particular. It was stone, like most of Hargeon's buildings, and the silver-painted anchor sign hanging over the door served as the only adornment to indicate its contents.

I pushed inside, looking around the somewhat smoggy interior, trying to pierce the gloom. "Oi, Archie! You around here?"

There was no response for a few moments, then stomping footsteps started making their way across the wooden floors and I made my ever-so-slightly tentative way to the counter, which was currently home to several empty bottles and a number of shells.

The stairs leading upward behind the counter creaked ominously under a ponderous weight, but Archie didn't pay the complaints any attention - if his stairs were gonna break, they'd have done so years before, back in his prime.

His snowy-white beard, standing out beside his leathery skin even in the dim interior of the office, was still cropped short as it had been the last time I'd seen him. He was bigger than me - _way_ bigger. Like, 'if he was cut in half, then cut in half again, he'd _still_ make two of me' big. Hargeon legend stated that Archie - whose last name had been consigned to the mists of time, since when anyone in Hargeon said 'Archie' everyone _knew_ who they meant - had once stopped two halves of a ship from breaking apart in a hurricane by grabbing onto one half with each arm, and had in fact held the whole thing together through main strength until it returned to port.

I wasn't sure what to make of that, but since I'd seen the man wield a ship's mast like a jousting lance, _I_ wasn't going to start making accusations.

"Well well well, if 't ain't th' Anchor 'imself!" The septuagenarian boomed, his dark-blue jacket - made with enough material for most people's tents - creasing as he folded his arms behind the counter, looking down with his beady eyes. "Ah'd 'eard ye'd left fer clearer waters, lad - what's got ya comin' back so soon?"

Most people found it difficult to interpret Archie- even in Hargeon. Me? I was Scottish - listening to Archie's accent was almost like being back home.

"I've got a job out on an island - my team and I need a vessel to get us there, and I figured I'd rather ask a friendly face than go trawling through that lot."

Archie let out a huff, unfolding his arms as he reached under the counter. "Right, o' course ye din't come in 'ere fer a chat wi' an old man. Young uns these days, I swear..." Finally rising from his crouch (which still kept him at my chest level, easily), he brought a battered old ledger with him, peeling it open on the counter and squinting down at the illegible scrawl on the pages.

Or, illegible for me, at least - for the former captain, it apparently made perfect sense. "So lad, which o' the isles'll ye be visitin' fer this job o' yers?"

"Galuna Island."

As I'd rather expected, Archie blanched at that, looking up sharply from the book. "Galuna? Ye're absolutely sure about that?"

"Ay- yes," I replied, suppressing my natural reply - it was a habit of mine. With my accent trapped between Scots and English, I picked up some parts of both - but most people claimed that 'aye' sounded wrong coming from me, so I tried to avoid it. "That's the place."

He stared at me for several long moments – a heavy, assessing gaze, that anyone over the age of about sixty-five seems to spontaneously develop like they've unlocked a secret of the universe. I met it and stood tall; I was ready for this.

...Okay, so maybe _I_ wasn't necessarily ready for this. But _we_ were ready for this, and I knew that for a fact.

Archie kept up the stare for a second longer then grunted, turning his eyes back to his ledger and scanning it for several moments before tapping one entry with a finger that had more girth than the average wrist. "'Ere we go."

He looked up again, tapping the entry again. "There'll be one feller comin' in n' out o' the harbour 'round midday – e's bin comin' round regular fer the past few years, 'e 'eads out that way. 'E'll be yer best shot at a lift ta Galuna."

I blinked a couple of times, then recalled that the Moon-Drip spell had been in operation for quite a long time – years, in fact. Honestly, just how long had this job been available? Had it only just been posted, or were all the S-Class Mages too busy with other things?

Well, there _was_ the option that they were all complete douchebags like Laxus was at the moment, but I preferred to think otherwise. 'Ascribe not to malice that which can be blamed on incompetence' and all that.

"Thanks, Archie. I'll see if I can't find something interesting for your collection."

The old Harbour Master chuckled, which sounded more like a bear growling than anything else, as I peered through the shadows of the building at the display which ran all along one wall.

Anything which might have come from the ocean was, in some way, represented in Archie's collection – the display christened 'Hargeon's True Harbour Wall'. Shells, sands, various types of rock, dried examples of various kinds of sea life, types of driftwood, sub-sea vegetation...

So far as I knew, nothing new had been added to it in quite some time. Still, I held out some hope – some kind of curio would surely come to mind while I was there?

I'd figure it out. Probably.

"Heh, ye do that lad. Now go on, git – ah've got a date wi' a bottle o' Jack's finest."

I waved over my shoulder as I left the store, the sound of Archie's footsteps – easily mistaken for falling trees in another scenario – echoing behind me as he returned to his apartment over the office.

When I got back to my teammates, Natsu was _still_ running through stretches, while Lucy looked like she was starting to wonder if a Zodiac Key was _really_ worth all this.

Happy...seemed completely unbothered. Ah well, it was true to his nature at least.

"I'm back!" I called as I approached, waving one arm in greeting. The others noticed me, with Happy offering his usual salute while Lucy smiled, both of them returning the gesture. Natsu...just kept stretching, though I was fairly sure he nodded to acknowledge me. I wasn't entirely sure really – after all, just how many types of stretch _were_ there? Had he repeated himself yet?

Choosing to leave Natsu's exercise schedule as a mystery (for down that path lay bowl-cuts and green spandex) at the moment, I took a seat beside them both on a low stone wall, our backs toward the harbour. As I did so, I closed my eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath and casting the net of my senses outward, checking for anything familiar.

There were the magical signatures I'd read from the ships' Mages and their cargo, Natsu, Lucy and Happy...and approaching us along the promenade between our wall and the drop off into the water, was the signature I'd been expecting.

Hiding my grin, I stretched my own arms for a moment (did Dragon Slayers spread stretches like other people spread yawns?) then crossed them in my lap. "Well, it turns out there _is_ a boat heading to Galuna." I told them both, which brightened Lucy's expression and increased the speed at which Natsu performed his stretches. "He comes around regularly, and he's due..." I glanced up at the sky, judging the position of the sun. "About this time, actually."

"You lot are looking for passage to Galuna Island?"

The new voice came from behind us, where a single boat was pulled up at one of the wooden jetties. I scanned the newcomer quickly – most of his body was concealed by a white cape/shroud, with a similarly coloured headpiece wrapping around his scalp. The only thing distinct about him at all where his bulging, bug-like eyes – any more and they'd be out on stalks!

And if I strained my senses – the equivalent of shutting out all the background noise and focussing on a single instrument in an orchestra – I could feel something radiating from him. It didn't feel like magical power at all, but it was something I could pick up on...and it reminded me ever-so-slightly of Lullaby.

Demon then. Bobo – the man we needed to see.

"We are." I confirmed, even as Natsu went to vehemently deny it.

Bobo shook his head. "I don't know what you kids think you'll find out there...but that place is cursed. No sailor will even go near it."

Lucy let out a low groan, while Natsu re-affirmed his decision to swim to Galuna, sharks or no sharks and regardless of whether or not his Magic would be functional in a massive body of water.

I didn't know whether to applaud his bravery or berate his foolishness – Lucy couldn't seem to decide either, simply she deflated with a sigh. I patted her on the shoulder, and she opened her mouth – probably to ask what we were going to do now – when another voice chimed in. A familiar one, this time.

"Found you."

Lucy shrieked and jumped about a foot in the air, Natsu spontaneously combat-rolled forward, Happy shot into the sky, and I...I twisted to look over my shoulder, offering my fellow Mage a nod. "Yo, Gray. Good travelling?"

The Ice Mage gave me a suspicious look, probably wondering why I was so calm, but grunted in response anyway. "Yeah – catching up wasn't a problem." He turned on Natsu now, who had come up in a fight-ready position, and smirked at the Dragon Slayer. "The Master sent me to bring you guys back to the Guild."

Natsu blanched, mild anxiety and shock flickering across his features. "You mean Gramps found out already?!"

"Yup!" Gray declared, leaning in closer to the Dragon Slayer while remaining crouched on the wall a bit behind and to the side of me. "If you come back quick and quiet, you might not even get expelled from the Guild."

Natsu growled and stalked toward Gray, who glared and met him halfway as they started one of their forehead-to-forehead insult contests of pure stubbornness. Meanwhile, Lucy's expression flickered momentarily to one of mixed horror, shock and terror at the prospect of being expelled from the Guild – and I knew that for her, there were very few things, even now, that could be more distressing.

The expression flicked a switch in my head, and in a habit I hadn't had use for in over six months, I reached out one arm to place around her shoulders and pulled her into a side-hug for a few moments, patting her upper arm before letting her go again. Her attention immediately switched over to me, and I offered her my most reassuring expression – admittedly I never actually got the hang of reassuring, though, so I probably just looked...normal. Or stupid – but those two are interchangeable, in my experience.

"It'll be fine, Lucy – Master Makarov's renowned as a fair Guild Master, and Fairy Tail's a fairly forgiving place. It has to be, what with the whole toss-out-the-rules-and-do-what-you-want philosophy we've got going on. Even if we were dragged away from this job – which I don't see happening with all of us here – I very much doubt we'd get kicked out." I patted her shoulder again, this time offering a squeeze as a solid reminder that I was here with her. "So stop frowning, okay? It'd be a shame to ruin that face of yours with wrinkles."

It was at that moment that the logical part of my brain caught up with the runaway instinct that had hijacked it, and I froze. A second or two passed before I promptly retrieved my hand from Lucy's shoulder. Quickly deciding that I needed a moment to think about where the hell _that_ had come from, I stood up quickly, turning away toward Natsu and Gray - though admittedly, the decision had something to do with the atomic blush I could feel burning in my face.

Paying proper attention, I could see that the two Mages were summoning magical power in preparation to start flinging spells about the place.

My eyebrow twitched – like _Hell_ they were gonna wreck anything in my town!

I stalked forward, drew back both my fists, there was a momentary flare of purple-black light-

Then I brought my fists down in opposing diagonals, forming an X-shape from my shoulders to my hips and, by _sheer_ coincidence, causing my fists to pass through the spaces currently occupied by Gray and Natsu's heads.

The crashing _thump_ they made when they hit the ground was most certainly _not_ my way of dumping the mixed panic and slight shock my incongruous show of emotion had sparked – no matter how much better I might have felt when they were down.

I shook out my fists idly, wondering just what the _Hell_ Fairy Tail skulls must be made out of for the strike to hurt so much yet be so effective, while behind me Bobo said something to Lucy. I didn't dare turn to look at her quite yet, so instead I glared down at the two Mages in front of me, tapping my foot with my arms folded – actually, I might have been pulling from Erza for this little performance. "And just _what_ are you two doing?"

Natsu grumbled something that _might_ have been construed as an attempt to speak, and I took that as cue enough. "No casting spells in civilian areas!" I declared, glaring at them even though they couldn't see me with their faces in the ever-so-slightly fractured stone of the pier. "We're just starting to fix Fairy Tail's reputation for wrecking wherever they end up – don't go undoing my hard work!"

 _'...Hm. I think that I might, just perhaps, have sympathised a little_ too _much with Nami. Maybe boats bring out the worst in me...?'_ Putting that thought aside for the moment, I instead stood a fair bit straight when Lucy's voice sounded from behind me.

"Declan – this guy here says he'll take us to Galuna Island!"

"Good to hear!" I called back, still not facing her as I reached down to pick up both Mages by the scruffs of their necks, settling them over my shoulders before turning to see Lucy already standing in Bobo's row-boat, Happy at the prow and the skipper himself at the stern.

I coughed a bit, feeling my cheeks begin to redden again as I brought the two Mages onboard, the combined weight of three people failing to so much as tilt the boat overly much.

Bobo stared as I tossed two quite heavily muscled, decently tall teens into the middle of the ship, where they collapsed in twin boneless heaps without the anticipated capsizing of the vessel. He looked over at me, questions writ large on his face, and a little smirk pulled at my lips as I gestured towards Lucy (it was more difficult to cast the lightening without contact, but I could manage it, and I'd had _more_ than enough contact with her for the day), then reached for Bobo with one finger extended.

He made as if to take a step back, and I halted my progress – deciding that he might well prefer an explanation before I started casting spells on him. "My Magic can reduce objects' weight," I explained. "Basically, at the moment Lucy, Natsu, Gray, myself and all our luggage weigh just the stay-on-the-ground side of nothing. I can do it for you, too; I've found that transport is _so_ much easier when you remove even a middling weight."

Bobo stared at me for a few moments longer, then nodded slowly. "Sure – give it a try."

I raised my hand again, extending it slowly before prodding him on the forehead, my magical power crashing through my body like water and rushing out of my digit to seek purchase on the man/demon's skin.

I'd expected some kind of resistance – in particular, from his arm, or the strange energy he was letting off. But, strangely enough, there wasn't any interference. _'Actually, now that I'm thinking about it and not exhausted half to death, I didn't have the usual resistance issue with Lullaby either...'_

That raised some questions I'd need to get answered at some point in the future, but for now it was enough for me to keep Bobo heavy enough to not blow away in a stray wind, but light enough that even if he were to walk on the very edge of the boat, he probably wouldn't tilt it enough to fall in.

Hesitantly, the man placed his oar in the water, then pushed us off – and immediately, the boat was off, barely sinking in the water as it moved forward with an ease that, likely, the Galuna Island native had never experienced before.

He shook his head in mild wonderment, then turned to continue doing his job.

Unfortunately, that left me at the tender mercies of Lucy Heartfilia and Happy the Cat. Happy, at least, was occupied with acting as our journey's impromptu figurehead, and was laughing to himself as the sea spray passed through the air around me.

So, it was me, Lucy and two unconscious Mages who probably wouldn't wake up for a few hours yet, considering I'd hit them pretty damn hard, and one punch from Natsu had put Gray down until late afternoon in the manga.

Seriously, did these two have glass craniums?

...Actually, that could make _so_ much sense, especially growing up with Erza.

My ability to keep a train of thought going brought my attention to the fact that it was _quiet_ – apart from the sounds of the ocean and Happy's laughter, it was silent on the boat.

I risked a glance at Lucy – and immediately saw that almost her entire attention was focussed on me, her expression almost leonine in its predatory glint.

Oh, this was going to be a _wonderful_ several hours.


	8. VII - Displacement

The opening stage of the journey wasn't all that bad, really.

Natsu and Gray were snoring on the floor of the boat; Happy was entertaining himself at the prow; Bobo was silent, keeping his thoughts to himself for now. So for the moment, at least, things were far more peaceful than they had been at any other point in the journey thus far.

The problem lay with Lucy and I.

I, personally, was trying to think my way through the process which had led to my spontaneous act on the pier. A process which must, logically, have begun when I first met Lucy, and then proceeded to continue throughout my interactions with her - apparently, completely beneath my own notice.

Unfortunately, Lucy's staring wasn't conducive to my thought process.

The Celestial Spirit Mage hadn't moved her gaze off me for more than the time it took to either blink or check on the other occupants of the boat since we left Hargeon. Instead, she trained her eyes on me like she was trying to either work out a particularly recalcitrant puzzle, or was looking for weaknesses.

I wasn't even entirely sure what _kind_ of weaknesses - and that scared me a bit.

Still, I had managed to come to some conclusions.

My intention had been to reassure Lucy that she wasn't going to be kicked out of Fairy Tail and forced to return to her father. I had found that she responded quite well to having someone to keep a supportive hand on her shoulder, and even if she would only really need it until the events of Phantom Lord came to pass, for now it aided her confidence, and I I enjoyed the warming sensation that came with offering that support.

So, technically, I had acted on purpose - I'd just done so in a fashion that surprised even me.

I hadn't acted that way in quite some time now - but nonetheless, I had fallen into a pattern in a split-second of inattention.

The pattern I'd often used during discussions with Heather.

When I was with her, I used compliments and lines that, in other contexts, would have definitely counted as flirting, like they were going out of style - she did much the same, too. It was, perhaps, a bit strange of us to use that kind of language around one another when we had no intention of getting into a relationship...but, we did so anyway. For a couple of reasons.

The first, was that it either made people around us uncomfortable, or caused them to start/solidify/circulate rumours about us - rumours which would forever go unsubstantiated, driving everyone in those social circles mad over time as they tried to puzzle us out.

Hah - psychological warfare on a highschool level. Always fun.

The second reason, on my part at least, was that I generally didn't say anything I didn't mean, and at the same time I had something of a compulsion to speak my mind at times. I could misdirect people, but flat-out lying or withholding information wasn't really in my nature.

Heather was, with the exception of my mother, the only real female presence in my life - thus, any affection or appreciation which may have gone to that gender, went to her. At least that was how I saw it - a psychologist might have tried to put it differently.

Little comments like the one I'd made to Lucy were once commonplace in my vernacular, but I had firmly believed they died with Heather. For those mannerisms to suddenly resurface seemed to indicate that I was, to some degree, moving Lucy into the same position as Heather had once occupied.

No - not _once_ occupied, _still_ occupied; just because she was buried a world away didn't mean I could just forget her and move on. Heather deserved better than that, better than to be replaced only six months after her passing by someone I had known for barely a week.

(Never mind that it had taken much less time than that for Heather and I to be friends, because _Lucy was not Heather._ )

Unfortunately, I had apparently failed to keep my guard up - and now, I had a problem. Not just the problem that I had apparently compromised my memory of my best friend, either.

My problem was that I found Lucy _ridiculously_ attractive, without any effort on her part and even with a certain degree of reluctance on my part - and now, she knew it. I respected her intelligence too much for her not to read me like an open book back on the pier.

I had no idea what she was going to do with that information. Odds were good that I'd have trouble saying no to her at the best of times, particularly considering that her requests were generally good ideas in any case - if she was _trying_ to get my cooperation, she might now know that she had a much higher chance of success.

Or, she might prefer to use it as teasing ammunition. She might like to hold it over my head. _I didn't know_ \- other than that the last one was rather unlikely. It was Lucy, after all - not Nabiki Tendo.

Still, it was rather uncomfortable, sitting in the middle of the ocean, my knees about two inches from Lucy's, and _she was still staring at me._

I valiantly resisted the urge to fidget, and played with the idea of opening a conversation. Was she waiting for me to do so? Was it a trap of some kind? Or, was the trap me _thinking_ it was a trap?

...Okay, that was probably just paranoia, but at the same time I just had no idea what to do in this situation. I wasn't prepared for dealing with social interactions beyond basic conversation and working with other people.

My thought process spiralled round and round, chasing its own tail as I tried to think through as many possibilities as I could manage, but snapped back to attention like a rubber band being released the moment I heard Lucy's voice.

"You're a difficult person to puzzle out, you know that Declan?"

Well, her tone was more amused than anything else - that could be a good thing...or a very bad thing.

I crossed my fingers where they were hidden in the crooks of my elbows by my folded arms.

"Like when we first met - I mean, do you know how many people actually look me in the eyes? Not that it isn't flattering, but at the same time..." She trailed off, crossing her own arms and shivering a bit as I wondered if this conversation could possibly get more awkward for me.

"With that whole 'friendly shopkeeper' front you had going on, I had no idea what to think - and when you gave me the discount, I was starting to wonder if you were actually into girls."

If I had been drinking, it's safe to assume I would have done an almost perfect spit-take. As it was, I just started choking on air, pounding on my own back as Lucy chuckled behind her hand, eyes glinting in amusement even as I shot her a look that was equal parts mortified and irritated.

"Oh come on, Declan!" She declared, laughter still audible in her voice. "No interest in me at all, and turning down a date for some stories instead?"

I managed to get some breath back in my lungs, though that didn't help all the red in my face. At this rate I was probably going to start boiling away the water around us. "Did it occur to you that you might not be my type?" Was the first thing I could think of to say, and judging from the way Lucy's smile grew, it wasn't my best choice.

 _"Really?"_ She asked, drawing out the word. She pouted, placing one finger on her lips. "You don't think I'm pretty, Declan?"

I wished my eyebrow would twitch - instead, I felt my blush intensify, and I turned my face off toward the front of the boat as Lucy start laughing properly, holding her stomach and trying to muffle herself with her other hand. It took her half a minute to calm down, and once she was breathing normally again I glanced sideways at her.

"I would have thought it," she acknowledged, "if it weren't for the restaurant." I frowned, turning to look at her fully as confusion over-rode embarrassment for the moment. "There were several other women in there, including that waitress who served us, but you didn't look at any of them. If I'd just not been your type, you'd still have glanced at _one_ of them on occasion - but you didn't even seem to notice they were there, even if _they_ noticed _you._ "

I grumbled at that, shivering slightly in my seat - the female attention I'd garnered while in Hargeon had been... _troublesome,_ to say the least. Once or twice, I'd found myself making appointments with Amelia just so I could have some time away from the various looks and comments.

"So yeah, I thought you played for the home team. But thinking about it _now_..." She leaned forward a bit, and I reflexively leaned back, turning my face away again as blood started to rush back to my cheeks. "I get it!" She proclaimed happily. "I understand!"

She levelled a finger at me. "You, Declan Ross - are _shy!"_

I twitched - _violently._ 'Shy' wasn't exactly what I'd call myself - though, from an outside perspective, I supposed that was what it might look like. _'On the bright side, at least she didn't make the leap to 'extra-dimensional traveller with an emotional burnout issue' somehow - or even make a fuss about how I acted in Hargeon.'_

That was something, I supposed.

So, I pulled my arms in closer and slumped a bit into my seat, grumbling to myself. I could grumble easily at the moment - certainly I was annoyed enough at myself for leaving clues for her to use in picking me apart. But, Lucy didn't need to know I was grumbling about _that_.

Lucy was still laughing to herself, and I shot her a grumpy look that only made her chuckle harder, even as she spoke around her mirth. "A _shy_ Fairy Tail Mage - you threw Lullaby into a mountain, and you're _shy!"_

I grumbled again at her continued laughter - though, most of my complaints were along the lines of it being a small hill, rather than a mountain.

Lucy calmed down eventually, then leaned forward again, trapping my shoulder with one hand so I couldn't lean back. "Well you don't need to worry, Declan." She told me, smiling. "I'll make sure you've got plenty of friends - you'll be a hit in no time! Celestial Spirit Mage's promise!"

 _'...and she never goes back on her promises.'_ A part of me thought. _'Oh, this is just perfect.'_

Unfortunately, the rest of my brain - which might have been used for some higher-order thinking - was largely occupied with the fact that Lucy Heartfilia's face was roughly three inches away from mine, and that her eyes were the colour of cherry wood.

I don't know how red my face went, on how much heat it was putting off, but judging by the red tint to Lucy's own face it was apparently enough to affect her even across the inches of distance.

She pulled back a few moments later (several moments more than was strictly necessary, part of me put forward - I chose to disregard it) and looked again at the two Mages on the floor of the boat, frowning slightly as her arms crossed once more. "Just how long are those two going to laze about?"

I unfolded my own arms, rubbing the back of my head with one of them as I looked in the same direction. "Well, I put a lot into it, so..." I glanced at the sky, seeing that it was - by my admittedly inexpert guess - still somewhere between two and three in the afternoon. "A few hours?"

Lucy looked at me, then back to Natsu and Gray, then abruptly started laughing again. "You can knock out Natsu _and_ Gray..." She managed, breathing hard to fuel her lungs behind one hand. "But you can't compliment a girl without turning the colour of Erza's hair!"

The blonde kept right on laughing, and I re-folded my arms, ducking my head so my chin was just about ensconced in my duster. _'I rescind my earlier statement. This is going to be a very,_ very _trying afternoon.'_

She was lucky she was cute. And funny. And kind. And...

Dammit.

* * *

Time passed strangely on the boat.

Without landmarks to judge our passage by, there was the strange sensation of movement without progress - a trick of the mind and eye that I could feel in the back of my mind, bringing up idle paranoia. Across from me, Lucy's expressions had shifted from teasing glances in my direction, to a more subdued, slightly worried visage. Happy, at least, had lost none of his enthusiasm - but then he was probably fantasizing about all the fish below us, so that was understandable.

Bobo...was completely unreadable. Frankly, that just made me _more_ paranoid - even if I was sure I shouldn't be.

It wasn't until the sun was setting on the horizon, twilight settling around us like a blanket, that Gray and Natsu began to wake - and not a moment too soon, either, since I was already finding myself in a precarious balance between paranoia, boredom and fatigue. I'd resorted to humming various tunes under my breath as a last resort to keep my focus on something else, but I only had so many things on the top of my head, and I had already repeated _Some Nights_ twice.

"Jeez...I didn't think anyone but Erza could hit like that..." Were Natsu's first words as he rubbed the crown of his head, pushing himself off the floor of the boat. I grabbed his shoulder, settling him into a seat properly while, at the same time, gently keeping his eyelids closed.

"Keep your eyes closed for now, Natsu. You've been out for a while, so your brain needs to get back in gear."

"Got it..." The Dragon Slayer groaned, apparently taking my word for it as he leaned back against the wooden panelling. I was hoping I could keep his sickness from settling in for a bit longer if he didn't realise he was actually on a vehicle - since it seemed that his aversion to transportation was less to do with actual motion, and more to do with his perceptions... _somehow_.

There was a lot I still didn't understand about Magic - and Natsu, for that matter.

Gray was up only seconds later, and Lucy pulled him up into a proper sitting position across from Natsu as the Ice Mage rubbed his skull and cracked his eyes open, quickly focussing on me with a look that was mixed annoyance and grudging respect. "Flame brain's right for once," he commented, drawing an indignant, but somewhat lethargic, complaint from Natsu. "You hit pretty hard; I guess it isn't just your Magic that's strong."

I inclined my head a bit, partly in thanks and partly to hide that I'd gone red again. "Well, my Magic lends itself to staying in shape - I'm still not on you, Natsu and Erza's level yet, though."

Gray grunted in acknowledgement, but waved his hand at the same time. "Don't worry about it - you'll get there. I can guarantee that."

I bowed my head a bit deeper - coming from someone I respected, like Gray, honest praise always put a smile on my face. Unfortunately it also turned me bright red, and I vividly remembered Lucy's revelation about her observations of me from earlier in the day. Blushing when another guy talked to me would _not_ help on that front. "Thanks, Gray - I appreciate it."

He waved me off again, then looked around and let out a sigh. "So we've been out for a while. We're almost to the island, aren't we?"

"That we are." Bobo confirmed, abruptly speaking up for the first time in several hours. At the same time, Gray's comment caused Natsu to open his eyes and look around - whereupon he immediately turned green and flung his upper body over the side of the boat, trailing his arms in the water as he moaned low in his chest.

I let out a sigh, as did Lucy and Gray, while Happy looked up from the waters to stare forward, his eyes narrowing a bit. "Hey, mister?"

"My name is Bobo."

"Aye! So mister Bobo, what kind of curse is on this island, anyway?"

"And come to think of it," Gray put it, "how come you let us on the boat anyway? You seemed pretty set against going to this island back in Hargeon."

The helmsman didn't speak for a long moment, but then he looked back at the rest of us, a serious expression in place. "I agreed to take you...because I used to be a resident of that island."

Lucy muttered a question at that, while Gray frowned and I just kept watching Bobo. "I managed to escape that cursed place...but many did not. If you can break their curse, then..."

He trailed off, and none of us pushed further. He wasn't looking at us any more - he was staring _through_ us, to something only he could see.

His thousand-yard-stare lasted a few seconds, until Happy spoke up again. "So just what kind of curse is it?"

"It's a curse..." Bobo whispered, shifting his left arm under the cloak he wore. "Of grave misfortune." He glanced at his own body for a moment, before turning to us, expression deadly serious. "Tell me...can you truly break it?"

His left arm swept out, the cloth covering it moved away by the motion, revealing the limb in all its twisted glory.

It had four fingers and a thumb - but that was about as close to human as it got. The shoulder almost resembled the head of a staff, or the limb of a doll - an oval leading down into the upper arm, with a texture like bark until it reached the elbow. There, the resemblance to wood gave way to pitch-black armour, as similar to chitin as anything I'd seen before. Its lines were sharp and well-defined, with spikes being plentiful and the fingers resembling talons more than anything else.

Yes - if I could expect the arm of a demon to look like anything, that limb would be it.

"This demonic curse..." Bobo intoned, summoning the tone used by tellers of ghost stories for generation upon generation, as all the unoccupied eyes on the boat found themselves pulled toward the twisted biology.

Happy, Lucy and Gray's eyes all widened, with Lucy seeming struck between horrified and sympathetic, while Gray was just plain shocked. I couldn't really tell _what_ Happy was thinking - feline facial expressions weren't my forte.

I myself just stared at it, absorbing its sheer inhumanity, as on the other side of the boat my non-incapacitated teammates stuttered questions. No sooner had they done so, however, than Bobo perked up, turning his attention to the prow from where he stood at the stern. "There it is..." He muttered, loud enough for us to hear. "Galuna Island."

All of us save Natsu turned to look, getting our first view of Galuna Island - a pitch black mass in the twilight, rising from the ocean almost like a rounded pyramid. The clouds above us, visible as black spots among the gathering stars, radiated away from it in circles - and were the moon to be out, I was sure we would have been able to see the magic of the Moon Drip spell in action.

For now, though, Diana had yet to chase her brother across the skies, and so Galuna's appearance remained natural - or as much as it was possible to be, anyway.

We stared for a few moments, before Lucy cleared her throat, turning around to ask a question...then let out a sudden squeak, prompting Gray, Happy and I to turn towards her...and the empty stern of the boat.

While the other members of the team goggled at the empty spot, I myself gave Bobo credit for a smooth exit. _'I didn't even hear the air creaking beneath his wings - I can't sense him, either. He must have gone out of my range. Note to self: winged demons are_ fast _.'_

While Lucy tried to parse the fact that our skipper had just vanished into thin air, Gray looked over the side of the ship, scanning the waters, as Happy dived beneath the surface. Apparently, magical cats didn't mind the water - or maybe it was just Happy. How common could flying cats be, after all?

I turned to look out my side of the boat as well, looking across the waters for something I knew wouldn't be there, until Happy re-surfaced and proclaimed that Bobo wasn't beneath the waves. That sent Lucy into a mild panic attack, and just to make the situation complete, Natsu chose that time to raise his head from his communion with Neptune to bring our attention to the _pièce de résistance_ \- a multi-storey tidal wave, coming right for us.

 _'How did I forget about this?!'_

I didn't bother with waiting for instructions - I flooded the boat with magic, wrapping all my fellow Mages and the vehicle itself with my field of control, and firing off the only instruction I really had time for.

Forward.

Bobo's ship exploded into motion like a bullet out of a gun, naturally aerodynamic enough to make accelerating easier as we pulled away from the tidal wave, Galuna's beaches growing larger and larger in our view at a greater and greater rate as we kept on accelerating.

The others started yelling, and I hit the brakes about as hard as I could manage - unfortunately though, I left it a bit late, and it took me time to switch from _pulling_ forward to _pushing_ backward. At the same time, it also required me to change my focus, so I grabbed onto the larger gravitational field as the medium for stopping us - namely, the boat itself.

It didn't enter into my mind that we weren't actually _secured_ to the boat until we were all airborne, and after that everything was rushing wind and instinctive reactions as the ground drew closer.

* * *

When I groaned my way into consciousness, the first senses that came back to me were touch, hearing and smell - in that order.

My back hurt - as in, everything from the back of my head down to the back of my legs was, in some way, painful. Stabbing pains spoke of rocks and possibly shells, while the rest throbbed in the manner of bruises and other blunt-force traumas. My front, however, was actually resting against something rather soft - or, something soft was resting against me, since gravity was assuredly pointing toward my back.

My hearing reported my own groans, the sound of surf, wind in trees, and birdsong - which at least told me we hadn't gone shooting off into the forest or, if we had, it hadn't been particularly far.

Well, assuming we hadn't been propelled to the other side of the island, anyway...

Discarding that idea for the moment, I frowned when I realised that the 'wind in the trees' was very close - right by my ear, in fact. Had I landed in a tree?

Then smell came back, and my face screwed up even further. Strawberries? Why strawberries? Those grew on bushes, not trees - had I somehow managed to land on an in-season strawberry bush? On a cursed island?

Deciding that the best way to know would be to kick my brain back into gear and get moving, I forced my eyelids open - closing them immediately when sunlight invaded. I hissed a bit, then opened them just a crack, gradually letting my vision adjust to the golden brilliance. _'Sunlight - I guess that means we were out all night.'_

It took a minute, but they adapted, and I found myself staring up into a green canopy, sunlight filtering down through the leaves. But that didn't make sense - if the light had been dyed green, where was the gold coming...from...

The sound of wind blowing came again, from right beside me, and I finally put all my senses back together enough for me to count as 'sensate'.

 _'Well - at least this explains everything_.'

I was fetched up on a somewhat rocky patch of mixed sand and grass, beneath a tree which appeared to have been what stopped our progress. 'Our', because lying on top of me was Lucy Heartfilia.

With that realisation came a complete cessation of movement on my part, as I tried to remember what had happened when I'd stopped the boat, but hadn't managed to do more than slow our actual bodies. I'd closed my eyes against the air, but hadn't there been a magical signature close to my one? So I'd grabbed it, and...

That was the point where I must have hit my head, since it was a bit fuzzy. Still, it appeared that through some turn of events, I'd managed to get myself between Lucy and the ground before impact - hence why her head was in the crook of my shoulder, her breathing disturbing the sand and grass by my ear, and her hair turning the light in front of my eyes gold like ripe wheat.

She didn't appear to be conscious, which meant I probably had time to get out of this before I embarrassed myself. I grunted a bit, then sat up. Lucy wasn't heavy enough to need lightening before I moved - and what weight she possessed was more of a soft reminder of her presence than any kind of pressure...

 _'Don't think about that weight, don't think about that weight, don't think about that weight, don't think about that weight...'_ I chanted to myself, getting my torso vertical despite the distraction presented by Lucy's presence. Now sitting up properly, I wrapped one arm around my teammate to stop her just falling on the ground, and went to lie her down properly - but I found myself staring right back into her eyes, set in a bright-red face.

We stared at each other for a good few moments, before I finished the motion of setting her down on the ground carefully, then stood up and turned away. "I'm...I'm..." I tried to think of something I could say, but my brain was failing me - it was either gibbering in some kind of mortification-induced panic reaction, or it wouldn't stop replaying the time when I was holding Lucy.

"I'mjustgonnagocheckontheothersyouletyourselfwakeupproperlyI'llbebackinalittlewhileseeyathen!"

And with that ream of gibberish, I all but sprinted off down the beach toward where I could sense the familiar Magic of my other teammates, hoping desperately that my skin didn't burn itself with the amount of heat it was currently giving off, while at the same time reciting a new mantra. _'It never happened it never happened it never happened it never happened_ _it never happened_ _it never happened...'_

I reached Gray first, and found him sprawled on the sand, breathing steadily but still out of it. I crouched down beside him and checked the back of his head carefully with the palms of my hands, checking them when I withdrew. As expected of a Fairy Tail Mage, not even a single bleeding cut from a hit like that. Though, to be fair, I wasn't bleeding either...

Thoughts of my landing turned to thoughts of my waking up, so I promptly channelled the energy from another nuclear blush into shaking the Ice Mage, who took a few seconds to respond, but groaned his way into consciousness for the second time in as many hours rubbing the back of his head. "Damn...what hit me...?" He asked, sitting up.

"The beach." I answered, which prompted him to look up and offer me an expression that was half-glare, half-grin.

"Your driving is actually worse than Erza's. You know that?"

I grimaced, returning the glare and folding my arms haughtily. "I'll have you know I'm a _brilliant_ driver - so long as I don't have to stop or land." In point of fact I _had_ been okay at driving on Earth, but the principles of that which could be applied on Earthland were really pick and mix.

"If you say so." The Ice Mage replied, accepting my extended hand to pull himself vertical, dusting off his white coat and look around. "So, where are the others?"

I looked down the beach, further in the direction I'd been going. "Natsu and Happy are over there, and...Lucy..." I barely managed to get her name out without going nuclear again, which drew a raised eyebrow from Gray. "Is back over there." I jerkily indicated over my shoulder with my thumb, then abruptly set off down the beach. "C'mon Gray, we've gotta make sure Natsu doesn't burn the place down trying to signal us!"

I got the distinct feeling that Gray was staring at the back of my head as I kept on walking, but eventually he followed, and we came across the other partnership in our team. It looked like Happy had made an attempt at stopping Natsu himself - or at least, that was my explanation for how they both ended up in a tree, dangling from the branches like a weeaboo's Christmas decorations.

I cupped my hands around my mouth, took a deep breath, and yelled. "OI NATSU, WAKE UP!"

The Dragon Slayer startled awake with a shout of his own, immediately scrabbled for grip on the branch, and ultimately failed. He fell toward the ground with a yelp, but touched down light as a feather with a quick application of my Magic - just like Happy, who dropped down a second later, giggling to himself.

Natsu looked around blearily, focussing on Gray and I. "Eh? Guys?" He scanned the area again, blinking slowly. "We're not on the boat any more...?" His eyes abruptly widened, and he shot to his feet like he'd grabbed onto a live wire. "WE'RE ON THE ISLAND, AREN'T WE?"

"Yeah..." I responded slowly, watching as Natsu immediately scanned the beach with his eyes and shot toward his pack, shouldering it and gesturing for Happy.

"C'mon Happy, let's go explore!"

"Aye!"

The two looked ready to go traipsing off into the forest, so I reached forward and grabbed them each by the scruff of the neck. Both of them secured, I lifted them up and turned them to face me, fixing them with a stern look. "We'll explore later." I told them, jerking my head at Gray as we started moving back toward where I'd woken up. "For now, we've gotta collect Lucy, then we'll go and find the village where our clients are."

Natsu pouted a bit, but nodded, with Happy offering his usual salute and catchphrase to back him up. I set them both down and we traced my footsteps back. Along the way, I picked up my own backpack as well as Lucy's trundle bag, and once we reached the Celestial Spirit Mage herself she had found her satchel. I couldn't bring myself to look her in the face, so I just patted the trundle bag where it rested on my lower back to signify I had it before finding something interesting to look at out at sea.

Knowing my luck, Natsu, Gray and Happy would notice the odd behaviour. _'I did_ not _need this today - especially not after Hargeon.'_ I lamented to myself, turning around when Gray spoke up.

"Wait, guys."

When the rest of us were focussed on him, he let out a long sigh, tousling his own hair. Natsu scowled at him, folding his arms as he stared at the Ice Mage. "You can't tell us to go back now!" The Dragon Slayer told him. "Not when we've come so far!"

"I'm not going to, flame brain." Gray denied, smirking when Natsu glared at him. "It'd really bug me if you got to the second floor before me - and besides, you guys have made things interesting at home. If you got expelled, things could get boring again."

I felt a grin spreading across my own face, a kind of feral amusement rising up in me. "So that means..."

"Yeah." Gray nodded, a grin of his own spreading. "I'm coming with you guys." Lucy, Natsu and Happy all grinned as well, and the Ice Mage turned to face the forest. "Now...let's go!"

"Right!" / "Right!" / "Right!" / "Aye!"

* * *

Finding the village was...a bit of a job, to put it lightly.

Between the fact that I managed to completely forget how to walk without running into things whenever Lucy was in my line of sight, and the consideration that we had _no_ idea where to start looking, our strategy basically amounted to walking in random directions until we found the place.

Or rather, it did until I remembered I could fly - which took until evening had already fallen, I was so distracted.

A quick rise to high altitude revealed the clearing where the village was located, and I led the team in that direction after touching back down, glad for the opportunity to be somewhat alone with my thoughts.

 _'I'll need to apologise to her - it's the right thing to do. But to do that, I need to be able to_ actually talk _to her.'_ That basically meant that I had to man up and get over it, for the good of the team and the job.

Well, my brain knew that. My heart still started ramping up the BPM when I even _thought_ about Lucy, which wasn't very conducive to a calm, collected apology. _'Damn my Charming complex - and damn my hormones! You bastards were meant to be in quarantine!'_

Thankfully, my little descent into madness was put on hold when we reached the village gates, easily visible even in the dark - the island was deceptively hard to manoeuvrer through, not to mention larger than it had looked from way out on the ocean. As a result, night had fallen already - the only thing hiding the moon were the clouds overhead, which were scattering in an evening wind that promised to pull it away soon enough.

The gates and the walls they were set in were entirely wooden, formed from entire tree-trunks and sharpened into stakes at the tops to discourage climbers. They were bound together with vines, while on either side of the gate two particularly thick trunks had interesting designs carved into them.

Of course, the whole 'mysterious jungle-island village' air was kind of ruined by the 'KEEP OUT' sign hung from the gates.

We stared at it for a moment, looking up at the gates which were several times taller than we were, before glancing at one another. "Keep out?" Gray asked, looking somewhat incredulously at the message. "What kind of village puts 'keep out' on their gates?"

Beside him, Natsu huffed, glaring at the gates. "Man, this sucks..."

Deciding to take a more direct approach, Lucy cupped her hands over her mouth and yelled a greeting over the wall, while I hammered my fist on the wood a few times.

When there was no response, Natsu started cracking his knuckles. "Right, let's just break them down."

Lucy immediately turned on him, and as she did so I kept my eyes on the gate, particularly at the top. There should be...

"Who's there?"

Ah, right on cue.

Two guards appeared at the top of the gate, carrying spears and dressed in much the same style as Bobo had been, everything but their faces covered in white cloth. Lucy turned away from Natsu, calling back up to them. "We're Mages from the Fairy Tail Guild - we came about your request!"

The guards looked at one another, possibly muttering too lowly for us to hear, then looked back down. "We don't know anything about a request - I've not heard of Fairy Tail before, either."

Well, that was odd. Sure, Galuna Island was known as the 'Island of Demons' - if no one ever came here, they'd never get news, meaning they wouldn't know about our reputation. But then, the Mayor had obviously heard of Fairy Tail before...did only he make an effort to learn about the world outside the island? Were these two just thick or ignorant?

 _'Considering that they don't seem to know about the fact that the Mayor issued a job request among the Guilds_ either _...they're either supremely ignorant, or they're playing dumb for some reason.'_

While I was running that thought process, Gray moved forward, calling up to the guards. "Well, it looks like there's been some confusion - if we can't get in, we'll just leave now."

Natsu hissed at the Ice Mage, but Lucy kept him quiet as the guards conversed again before turning back to us. "Show us your symbols."

Well, they at least knew what Guilds _were_ , then.

I pulled up the sleeve of my duster, lifting my forearm to reveal the mark there. Natsu presented his shoulder, Lucy the back of her hand, Happy shifted his little bag to reveal the Fairy Tail emblem emblazoned on his back and Gray pulled up his shirt, revealing the mark on his right pectoral.

The guards looked on for a few moments, turning back to each other and conversing, before one of them, the one who hadn't spoken yet, called down. "Strip the girl!"

Lucy gaped at him for a moment, and thus was a bit startled when I once again laid Gray and Natsu out with a fist to the skull as they made to move in her direction. As they twitched where they lay, I raised my left hand to point at the top of the gate. **"Bansho Ten'in."**

The man gave a startled cry as he was pulled over the lip of the palisade and hurtled toward the ground, his journey halting with a breath-expelling impact as I caught him by the front of his cloak, easily keeping him suspended in front of me as I looked him in the eye.

He turned very pale, very quickly, slowly raising his empty hands - he'd dropped his spear as he was pulled. I kept up my glare for a moment longer, then looked pointedly between the man and Lucy. He gulped, probably trying to clear his throat, then turned to my teammate and inclined his head. "S...sorry, miss...I got a little...c-carried away..."

Lucy glared at him for a moment longer, arms crossed over her chest (which, unfortunately for my concentration, did a better job of _emphasising_ what she was trying to hide). Then she sniffed, putting her nose in the air. "Apology accepted." She declared, as I put the man back on his feet - where he almost collapsed, before I caught him by the shoulder and kept him on his feet. "I suppose I can't blame you."

I sighed, shaking my head as Lucy once more sank into her own little world. _'Can't really blame her though - she is_ that _good-looking.'_

I promptly shook those thoughts out of my head, hoping the red of my face wasn't visible as I faced toward the gate. Atop the structure, the other guard seemed to be breathing a sigh of relief. "I'll raise the gate," he called down. "Come on in, I'll go get the mayor."

* * *

The gate rose slowly enough for me to rouse Natsu and Gray before it had finished moving, and I fixed them both with the best glare I could copy from Erza. "The next time you hear an instruction like that," I told them, "you _will_ ignore it. If you don't..." I cracked my knuckles again, loose pebbles and dust rising around my feet as magical power leaked from my system.

The two Mages glanced at one another, then turned back to me and nodded frantically. I let go of my Magic, turning back to the gate, where Lucy was watching us with an inscrutable expression.

I felt my face beginning to heat up again, but with the left-over anger from the guard's actions still beating back my embarrassment, I was able to keep eye contact and even smile as we headed in.

The village's structures were made entirely from natural products. Leaves, vines and thatches made up the roofs, while the walls and other load-bearing structures were wooden. It made me think of pictures I'd seen of Hawaii, in some respects.

A crowd of figures, swathed from head to foot in white cloth, greeted us when we entered - led by a crouched figure with a black mantle and a walking stick topped with a crescent moon shape. The designs on his veil, and on another piece of fabric I could see within the layers he wore, reminded me of Aztec structures I'd seen reading Horrible Histories as a child, featuring various geometric shapes and all the phases of the moon.

"Thank you for coming here..." He began, his voice raspy and dry. "Mages."

"Now I apologise if this seems a bit sudden," he continued, his free hand reaching for his cloak. "But if you are to understand, then first you must see." He turned back toward the crowd. "Everyone, remove your cloaks!"

There was a mass flurry of white cloth as the villagers obeyed, and the people were revealed.

Every single one of them, in one way or another, displayed inhuman characteristics. Chitinous limbs, like Bobo's arm, were common - the Mayor had almost exactly the same arm. There were also horns, twisted legs, rocky skins, spines...things that wouldn't look out of place in a Warhammer concept designs book were everywhere.

It was a bit unsettling, particularly the considerably heavier air of demonic influence I could feel from the various appendages. I wasn't sure if the others could feel that, but Gray, Happy and Lucy all stepped a bit closer to me as they faced in different directions, with the blonde gulping audibly and the Ice Mage muttering "I knew it..."

As for the last member of our team...well...

"AWESOME SIDEBURNS!"

 _'...I'm not sure what I was really expecting...'_

"Well thank you, young man." The mayor, dressed in a skirt bearing the same designs I'd noted earlier, a black cape and a ruff of leaves, replied. He looked just as I'd expected - short and bowed by age, bald and thin of limb. Although it was worth noting that he still bore considerable muscle definition, and that his sideburns hung down to his _hips_.

Of course, the black insectoid limb which replaced his right arm was probably meant to attract the most attention. "I actually wanted to show you this hand, however."

He raised it up, letting it catch our attention as we all focussed on it. "Did it surprise you?"

 _'Some of us less than others.'_ I thought wryly to myself.

The mayor went on to explain that all the island's animal life, from 'humans' down to dogs and birds, had similar characteristics. When Gray raised the question, he explained that many doctors had examined their condition, and the chance that it was a disease of some kind had been discarded.

"Of course, we have also discovered that our condition is tied to the magical power of the moon."

Lucy frowned, muttering a repetition of the phrase beneath her breath as the mayor expounded. "Legend has it than since ancient times, Galuna Island has gathered moonlight much as a bowl gathers the rain. It did this for so long, that at night travellers might mistake the island for the moon itself come to rise from the ocean."

As he spoke, the mayor stood taller, as did the other townspeople - they definitely had pride in their heritage. "Then, a few years ago," the elderly man continued, his stature shrinking once more as he leaned more heavily on his staff, "the moonlight turned purple, and our problems began."

Gray looked a bit sceptical, while Natsu simply commented that he'd never heard of purple moonlight before, Lucy backing up his answer.

I broke the rank at that point, folding my arms and drumming my fingers on one arm, frowning and lowering my head a bit. "Purple moonlight...purple moonlight..." I muttered to myself, hoping that I'd pegged Lucy right for this...

"Declan? Have you heard of something like this before?"

Quite abruptly, I had seemingly the entire village's attention focussed on me, my team shifting a bit uneasily as every eye settled on me. Honestly, I fidgeted a bit myself - I'd never been happy in a public speaking role in school, and that hadn't changed. "Once before," I told them, phrasing it as an admission. Apprehension was an easy emotion to come by when you're being faced down by an island's population of demons-turned-humans, after all. "There's a spell I've heard about which caused discolouration of moonlight as a side-effect - but really, if that spell is in operation _here_..."

I made a show of scanning the crowd, then turning to look back at the gate, out into the jungle. "Then I hope you take no disrespect, mayor, but it's entirely possible that these...'alterations', may be the least of your problems before too long."

The old man let out a raspy chuckle that had more than a hint of a sigh to it. "Oh you say that now, young Mage..." His voice took on a hint of strain, and I spun back around to see sweat beading on his brow, the rest of the crowd showing strain as well as a purple luminescence started to encroach on the village shadows. "But you have yet to see...the full extent of this curse..."

At that point, his voice failed, and he instead clutched his staff and hunched over in pain.

That was when the screaming started.

There is no noise quite so horrific as that of a human being in pain. It only gets worse when there are a large number of them, especially when they're all bunched together, and _particularly_ when that noise is being directed at you.

I took a step back and to the side, effectively putting me in front of Lucy, just as Natsu and Gray stepped back on either side of me, flanking her and facing outwards as their eyes darted over the figures of the townspeople as they writhed and howled. I wasn't sure what Lucy herself was doing, but the rapid breathing from behind me didn't give the impression that she was in the best frame of mind.

Thankfully, for all involved, the transformations only lasted half a minute at most. Once it was over, the people remained hunched over, panting as they tried to catch their breath. Once they started to recover properly, the mayor stepped forward - recognisable now as the old man from before only by his clothes and the staff in his hand.

Two horns now jutted out from his forehead, while his three remaining limbs were now just as insectoid as his arm had been before the moonlight came down. His skin had turned a dark blue, while black spot-marks patterned his frame.

His sideburns were still there, actually - they suited him more as a demon than a human, in my opinion.

"I apologise if we scared you," he told us, his voice deep and gravelly - much more fitting of his current form. "But this is what becomes of us beneath the moonlight. These demonic forms...what else could this be, but a curse upon us? What could be worse, than for this to come to us each and every night?"

I didn't answer for a long moment - neither did my teammates. Instead, we looked out over the people. There were all sorts out there - men, women, child, young, old and everywhere in between. Rocks for skin, chitinous armour, every colour from blood-red to navy blue, tusks and talons and horns...

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't uneasy. I guessed the others were thinking mostly the same thing. Still, these were our clients - people who _were_ suffering, even if they didn't actually know quite _why_.

The sight of the majority trying to hold back tears was what _really_ cinched it.

"I can't know for sure until we track down the source." I told the mayor, stepping forward again, trying not to let my demeanour shift at all from when I was speaking with him before. "But, if the spell I'm thinking of has been activated here, it can only mean that someone, for some reason, is attempting to break a seal - and a powerful one, at that, if it's been years since the process began.

"I won't deny that I can't understand how this must be affecting you...but a curse, if that is truly what this is, _can_ be broken. The kind of thing usually sealed behind a spell as powerful as might be in use here, would be a completely different thing."

The mayor bowed his head for a moment, and when he came back up, I could see tears in his eyes. "Would it be, though?" He asked, grip tightening on his staff. "Recently...some of us have stopped turning back in the daylight. They lose themselves, their souls...and we had no choice but to...to _kill_ them."

The mayor's voice choked off as he gripped his staff tighter, eyes squeezed shut as he shook in place. Beside me, Natsu stepped forward, eyes suddenly blazing, all uneasiness forgotten. "You killed them?! Even when there was a chance that they could come back?!"

The man's grip on his staff tightened even further. "We couldn't leave them to run loose..." He almost-whispered, just loud enough for us to hear. "If we had, then who might they have hurt? Who might they have killed next? We tried to keep them secured, to give them a chance to revert - but nothing we did could hold them."

A shaking, clawed hand reached into his mantle, withdrawing with a picture that the old man turned to show us, tears properly dripping down his face now. "Even...even my own son..."

He broke off, shakily returning the picture to his clothing even as, behind me, I heard Gray and Lucy erupt into furious whispers. It was understandable - after all, the face on that picture had been, unmistakably, Bobo - our erstwhile skipper.

Though Gray's immediate acceptance of our boat having been captained by a dead man...did that mean ghosts were a proven thing here? If so, were they generally peaceful? Hostile? Were they like Peeves from Hogwarts, or the Paranormal Activity monstrosities? Were they rare things, or did they tend to congregate a la The Shining?

So many questions to ask at a later date...I'd have to ask Levy for some help with the research.

For now, though, I had more important things to focus on.

"I know of Fairy Tail..." The mayor rasped out, head bowed toward us. "Your Guild is known far and wide for its powerful Mages. Please... _please_ help us. At this rate, everyone...all my people...will lose themselves to this curse..."

I looked at him, lost for words. It should be simple, shouldn't it? Assure him we'd do the job, try and comfort him...I knew what I should do.

Yet I couldn't find the words. My tongue, my mind had failed me - I didn't know how to handle this. This man's mind had been scattered by magic, and to his knowledge his son was dead and gone while the people in his care were slated for the same fate.

How...how was I supposed to make this better?

I still didn't have my answer when it was made redundant - because where my hesitance stilled my tongue, one member of the team had never had a use for the word.

"THE HELL THEY WILL!" Natsu yelled, snapping me out of my self-imposed silence, and at the same time breaking the tense, emotionally-charged atmosphere that had built up. "We'll break the curse - just you watch!"

At some point, the Dragon Slayer had stepped up beside where I was, putting himself forward with ease. He stood tall, his features set in a determined scowl, his eyes almost literally burning with will.

Looking at him, here and now, I could honestly believe that he was capable of everything I had read him do. I could believe that he'd go above and beyond, to stand with the best of the best.

It was a humbling experience, I found, to stand beside Natsu Dragneel - I instinctively wanted to take a step back, to let him lead the charge, to leave it in his hands.

But...at the same time, it felt like if I did, I would be _failing_ in some manner.

And if there was one thing I refused to _ever_ be, it was a failure.

"Natsu's right." I declared. "Even if I'm right, we're still here for _your_ job. We'll get to the bottom of this - and we never go back on our word."

I glanced back over my shoulder to Lucy as I said that, finding myself unable to resist a smile at the way she flushed.

The mayor looked up, gathering himself again and coughing a couple of times to clear his throat. "As we see it, there is only one way to be sure that this curse will be lifted." He told us, glancing sideways at me. "Though I admit you may know better, we would still like to make this request..."

He bowed his head once more, this time out of supplication rather than emotion. "Please destroy the moon for us."

There was silence for a moment. Then another. Then...

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"


	9. VIII - Knots of Fate

After making his request of us, the mayor directed several of the townspeople to set us up in one of the currently unoccupied buildings. I wondered, did this house belong to someone who had been 'lost'? Were we, even if not truly, living in a dead person's home?

My paranoia, intrinsic dislike of horror movies and Gray's casual acceptance of ghosts as a phenomenon all combined to keep the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end the entire time, though the others didn't seem to find anything wrong - then again, they were probably still recovering from being asked to destroy the moon.

I handed over Lucy's trundle bag as she went into the bathroom to change before bed - it seemed that, somehow, Galuna Island was equipped with 'modern' plumbing. Or at least, they were level with Magnolia in terms of advancement. That kind of indicated that this level of technology had been in place for quite some time - and yet, it hadn't changed that much?

Putting thoughts of stagnation and the science of going to the bathroom out of my mind, I headed out of the house for a little while to speak with one of the female demons, who accepted my request easily enough - though the 'knowing' look she gave me sent shivers down my spine. In recent times, that look had spelt nothing but trouble for me.

Once my task was accomplished, I returned to the house containing my team. Once I closed the door behind me, I looked over to where Happy was hanging half-out the window, staring at the purple moon. "Happy, close the window, would you?" I called over, attracting his attention. "I'm not sure if we'd be affected by whatever kind of magic this place is being exposed to, but it's best not to tempt fate."

"Aye!" The cat acknowledged, staring once more at the moon and shivering before hopping down, batting away the sticks which were keeping the wooden shutters propped open as he did so. "Hey, Declan?"

"Yeah, Happy?"

"You know something about the creepy moon, right? You've heard about it before?"

"I have." I agreed, rolling my neck to a chorus of cracking sounds, then making my way to an unoccupied seat. Natsu and Gray had both haphazardly tossed their mats on the ground along with a blanket and another, smaller mat for a pillow, then taken seats by one of the closed windows, where they seemed lost in thought until I sat down near them.

"You mentioned a seal." Gray pointed out, arms folded, shirt once more lost to the same dimension where Happy stored his fish - or so I assumed anyway, since I couldn't see it anywhere. "So are we looking at another situation like Lullaby?"

At this point, Lucy emerged from her changing, dressed in a simple black t-shirt and soft trousers, her shoes left off.

I realised I'd been looking for a second too long fairly quickly, and hurriedly turned back to Natsu and Gray, hoping they wouldn't make anything of the pause. "Well, it's possible." I told them. "But like I said, if this spell has been in operation for three years, then it must be a really, _really_ powerful seal. I can't imagine a seal like that being used on anything below Lullaby's weight class. Hell, whatever it is, it's quite possibly _worse_ than Lullaby."

Lucy, where she was putting the previous day's clothes back in her trundle bag, shuddered for a moment - Natsu and Gray both grimaced a bit. The thought of something even more dangerous than Lullaby was, admittedly, rather a terrifying one.

"But in order to know, we'd have to find it - until then I only have guesswork to go on."

"Right." Natsu acknowledged, his posture relaxing a bit into his seat as he blew out a frustrated breath. "So we gotta go looking for whatever it is that's been sealed so we can stop it getting loose, right?"

I nodded, and the Dragon Slayer relaxed further. "Right - in the meantime, though...how are we supposed to destroy the moon?"

Gray grunted, shaking his head to chase away his thoughts. "Yeah - I mean, there's no way in Hell we could manage that."

Lucy closed her bag, nodding. "Yeah."

Natsu scowled, raising his fist and glaring at it as if it had dealt him some great insult. "I mean, how many punches would that even take?!"

Gray and Lucy both did double-takes, whirling to face our teammate and staring incredulously at him. "Do you mean you actually want to try?!" Gray questioned, as Lucy just stared disbelievingly at the Dragon Slayer. "It's impossible, you damn idiot!"

Lucy shook herself of her disbelief, spreading her hands as if admitting defeat. "Gray's right - I've never heard of a Mage who could do that." She turned to me, raising one eyebrow. "Back me up here, Declan?"

I scratched my head for a moment, thinking idly about an idea I'd been toying with for a while. "It could be done in _theory_ ," I admitted. "If I, for example, had access to enough magical power, I could theoretically drop it out of orbit - which would do a pretty good job of destroying it, along with Earthland."

I looked at my teammates - Gray and Lucy looked a bit pale at the mere idea, while Natsu looked torn between apprehensive and excited. "Of course, there's never been a Mage that strong, so it's not really worth talking about."

Lucy let out a huff, stalking across the room to conk me over the head - nothing like the hit I'd taken before the Everlue job, but enough for me to feel it nonetheless. "Don't get us all worked up over nothing!" She told me, arms folded and pouty look in place.

I caved. _Instantly._

"Got it, Lucy..." I mumbled, turning my face away before I could really start lighting up.

"Besides, we don't _have_ to destroy the moon." She continued. "Sure that might be what they asked for, but what they really want is the curse lifted - and I don't think destroying the moon is the solution we should be looking at."

I nodded along with her, while Natsu and Gray both let out yawns. "Well, one way or another, we can think about it in the morning." Natsu declared, getting up from his seat to fall bodily onto the mat serving as his bed.

"I agree with the flame-brain..." Gray slurred, falling in a considerably more controlled manner onto his mat. "We'll just sleep for now."

Both of them had passed out within seconds, and Lucy made to follow their example - then frowned, when she noticed that there were only two mats in the building. I tapped her on the arm to draw her attention, then gestured toward the doorway.

She raised an eyebrow, but followed me out of the door, slipping on her shoes as we went. I pointed out the next house down, opening the door and gesturing her inside. She headed in, and I followed, closing the door behind us to keep out the moonlight. I was fairly sure we wouldn't be getting enough exposure to the moonlight to have an effect on us, but still...

Lucy looked around, taking particular note of the curtain which seemed to form one wall of the room we were standing in - which was about half the size of the room where Natsu, Gray and Happy were sleeping, and thus only half the size of the building as seen from outside.

She turned back to me, resting her hands on her hips. "So, what's this about, Declan?"

I shuffled my feet a bit, but moved over to the curtain, lifting it from the bottom to reveal that there was a sleeping mat already set-up with a blanket and pillow mat in what was, effectively, a separate room. "I figured you'd sleep better away from those two," I admitted. "I mean, they're good guys, but at the same time..."

Lucy frowned for a moment, then shuddered and nodded - probably remembering the showing from the front gate. "Good call, Declan." She admitted, stepping over to the mat and settling down. I lowered the curtain, then moved over to where I'd set up my own sleeping mat, where my duster was taking the place of a pillow.

It probably wasn't a great plan of action to be sleeping here, but on the same note...Natsu snored. Like a _chainsaw._ I didn't know how bad Gray may or may not be, but I'd had more than enough of trying to sleep in the same room as my little brother over the years to have lost any and all patience for snorers.

I figured one house over should be enough to negate the worst of the sound, hopefully.

I settled down beneath my blanket, which I hadn't expected to need but actually found quite comfortable - Galuna might be a touch tropical during the day, but at night the temperature plunged fairly quickly. Actually, we'd been rather lucky the previous night - Natsu and Gray both shrugged off the low temperatures with ease, while Lucy and I were fine due to our proximity to one another.

And of course it was right when my thoughts turned in that direction that Lucy's voice rose from the other side of the curtain, startling me into jerking upwards for a moment. "Say, Declan...about earlier today..."

My eyes shot open immediately, and I gripped the blanket tighter. My first instinct was to berate myself for not bringing this up earlier so I could apologise properly, but it was cut off by Lucy's voice sounding once more.

"Thank you - for catching me."

I blinked several times rapidly. That wasn't the response I'd expected - I was more anticipating a slap and a telling off.

"You got yourself hurt for me - that means...that means a lot."

I shook my head, even though she couldn't see it. "I wasn't hurt that badly." I replied.

"But you could have been." Lucy's response came, and I couldn't really deny it. If we'd been travelling a bit faster, or in a different direction, I might well have had my skull smashed open on a rock or something. "That, and then there was that pervert of a guard..."

I could hear annoyance tinge her voice when she mentioned that, but it devolved into a teasing lilt as she continued. "I've read lots of stories about heroes and knights, but I never thought I'd really meet one like in my books."

I choked on my own breath when I heard that, and Lucy's laughter rang out past the curtain as I struggled to even out my breathing, certain that the glow of my features would be visible from through the curtain and the dark. "Really though, thank you, Declan. I couldn't have asked for a better teammate."

I managed to get my breathing under control, and let out a huff of breath, my mouth curling into a smile of its own accord. "Flattery will you get you anywhere." I told her, prompting another round of giggles that only encouraged my smile to grow. "Good night...princess."

I heard a sound that was somewhere between a giggle and a squeak, and then Lucy's voice drifted back to me. "See you in the morning, sir knight."

I slept well that night.

* * *

The next morning, Lucy and I were both up before our teammates, and returned to the house they were sleeping in so Lucy could get changed. As she did so, I headed outside, rising into the air with a thought and a kick off the ground.

I rose higher and higher, above the structures of the village, above the wall, above the trees, and kept going until I was level with the highest point on the island. From there, I scanned the area, looking for what I knew should be there. _'Ancient temple, ancient temple, ancient temple...bingo!'_

Less set in a clearing than it simply rose above the trees as if grown alongside them, or vice-versa, the temple was everything I'd expect to see on an Indiana Jones set. The walls of yellowed rock bore cracks visible even from this distance, with large segments missing. The crowns were jagged, as if the walls had once been taller but had begun crumbling from the top.

That was about as much detail as I could make out from the sky, so I descended back to the village, still facing in the correct direction. A moment later, I realised that I'd just have to re-orient from the gates of the village anyway, so I just turned back to the house and went in to rouse my teammates.

It took some jostling to get them moving, and Natsu resisted any and all attempts at separating him from his blanket. Eventually, I decided that enough was enough, so I just bodily tossed him out the door.

That was motivation enough for Gray to wake up fairly quickly, and Happy followed suit. By the time Lucy emerged in a new blouse and a skirt, satchel over her shoulder, the three of us were standing out in the street, as Natsu tried to untangle the bed-sheet which had gone from haven to prison sometime during his impromptu flight.

He eventually managed to escape, and trudged along after Lucy and I with Gray. Honestly, I didn't know why they were complaining so much - the sun had been appearing over the horizon when Lucy and I got up, so it couldn't have been _that_ early.

It was only a couple of minutes' walk to the main gates, and with a quick petition from Lucy to let us go out and explore the island before getting started on the mayor's request, we were allowed through.

We got under the cover of the forest canopy quickly enough, dappled green and shadow playing over us as we walked. I had chosen to wear just a t-shirt beneath my duster to keep my temperature down for now, but it turned out to be largely unnecessary - so long as I walked near Gray, the tropical climate was far more bearable.

Lucy had locked herself away in Horologium in rather short order after leaving the village - probably to escape the insects I could hear buzzing around. Unlike her, Gray, Natsu and I all had our own ways of dealing with them.

I could see a thin layer of frost glimmering on Gray's skin and clothing occasionally - so he was layering himself with just enough icy armour to prevent the bugs from getting their teeth into him.

Natsu was presumably so high-temperature that anything which tried to bite him burst into flames - the occasional sparks from his exposed torso seemed to support that theory.

As for me, mine was a considerably less passive response. I couldn't just repulse everything around me constantly, since conventional logic said that would prevent me from getting any air and would thus suffocate me. Instead, I simply paid attention to any insect which came within a couple of inches of me, and then compacted it to the size of a pin's head with a minor rush of magical power.

That was one of the major upsides of the sensory abilities my Magic granted - gravity affected _anything_ with mass, and thus nothing with mass could sneak up on me or go unnoticed if I was looking for it. Assuming it was both within my range and not affected by some kind of effect which could hide it from my Magic, anyway.

It took a fair bit of my attention, but I felt it was worth it to keep the biters off me. Still, I made a note to look into some kind of bug-repelling item. Surely that was a thing somewhere?

While my thoughts ran their course, the others were going back and forth in a conversation. Lucy was a bit creeped out and a bit afraid of the prospect of facing a curse for an enemy, but was even more worried about the idea that we might end up in a conflict with something even more powerful than Lullaby.

Of course, neither Gray nor Natsu seemed particularly worried about the prospect. The Dragon Slayer was just excited about being on an S-class quest, and Gray was completely sure of his ability to freeze the curse solid. Needless to say, the idea of facing down a threat which stood above even Lullaby just excited them.

I really couldn't blame Happy for his request to get inside Horologium with Lucy - though I was careful not to look in that direction.

I didn't know _what_ had possessed Lucy to cram herself in the foetal position, facing a transparent surface, while she was wearing a skirt - but whatever it was, it played merry havoc with me whenever my thought process turned in that direction, since part of me was making spirited efforts to perform a mutiny against my usual ethics and twist my neck in that direction.

It was almost like my neck was a screw, with two different drills trying to turn it into two different directions...

Actually, better stop that train of thought - thinking about dying when going into a hostile situation is a sure-fire way to get oneself a very nice suit and a one-way ticket to the great blue yonder. _'This woman is_ killing _me.'_

We kept on walking for some time after that conversation petered off. Even though Natsu and Gray's postures didn't show it, and I tried to keep it out of mine, there was a rising tension among us. I wasn't entirely sure about Gray and Natsu, but for me at least, it came from the rather impressive physical presence registering on the outer edge of my magical senses, which was only growing closer as we advanced into the forest.

Angelica, I presumed. Or at least, I thought that was the mouse's name.

Finally, there came a point where we stepped into an area mostly clear of the taller trees - and then we looked to our right, and instead of more greenery, we were greeted with the sight of a two-storey, turquoise, humanoid mouse wearing a maid's bonnet and a pink-and-black blouse.

There...were no words.

Lucy's call to arms jolted the rest of us from our momentary stupor, since she wasn't in any position to be grabbing her keys and was thus largely defenceless on her own. Gray cocked back his right arm as if for a palm strike, slamming his left hand into it to perform his usual hammer-and-anvil trigger for his Magic. Natsu raised his fists and crouched, ready to push off and get in its face. I raised my right hand, opening my mouth to speak as my magical power flowed -

And then the bloody thing let out a massive cloud of sandy-gray gas, which washed over all of us in a half-second.

I only breathed in a little - but that was enough for me to immediately dump a massive rush of my magical power into a barely-controlled pulse of force from my... _everywhere_ , cratering the ground below me and blasting all the gas away like someone had set off a bomb.

It also knocked over my teammates, but I felt they wouldn't mind overly much, since it also managed to topple the damn mouse.

Lucy was shouting to us, probably since she couldn't see us after Horologium's fall, but we were a bit more concerned with evacuating all the air from our lungs _immediately_.

"What the _Hell_ is that smell?!" Gray cried, taking deep breaths of now-clear air to flush his system. Beside him, Natsu was rolling along the ground, letting out sounds of anguish as he tried to work past the massive sensory overload to his preternatural nose.

I could have offered quite a few answers to that question - mostly because that smell was like mouldy cheese, year-old underwear, a men's locker room and a full chemistry lab's complement of sulphur. But I offered none, since I was busy making sure I had retained my sense of smell, and then moving over to my teammates.

By the time I'd pulled Natsu and Gray to their feet, with the former still holding his nose and almost crying, Horologium had been released, allowing Happy and Lucy to make their way to us. They reached us just in time for Angelica to roll over onto its front, standing on all fours and growling in a manner that was _way_ too menacing for any kind of rodent.

Gray took one look at it, remembered the smell, then turned to the rest of us and gave the one order we wanted to hear. "RUN!"

What followed was at least five minutes of flat-out sprinting through the jungle in no particular direction as we tried to keep ahead of the over-large vermin, barely managing to make up for its much longer strides even when I lightened us as much as I dared.

We were like extras in a Godzilla movie, and apparently Gray didn't particularly care for his chosen role, since he was the first one to turn back and make a 'tch' sound.

His hands slammed together and then one hit the floor as he called out. " **Ice Make: Floor!** "

The moment his palm made contact with the ground, a mirror-flat plane of ice spread outward at an incredible rate, freezing the ground beneath Angelica's paws between one stride and the next. The massive creature immediately lost all friction, and did almost a full flip before crashing down to the ground on its back, shattering the ice and even quite a few rocks.

 _'Is that what an earthquake feels like...?'_ I wondered, as Lucy and Happy came to a panting stop ahead of us, but Natsu, Gray and I slowed to a stop to stare at the giant mouse. We glanced at one another, and I answered their savage grins with one of my own.

When Lucy had her breath back and turned to look at us, she was greeted with the sight of three teenaged men beating the shit out of an oversized rodent, and having an inappropriate amount of fun doing it.

Eventually, she managed to pull our attention away from our spirited attempts at getting onto the RSPCA watch list long enough to point out that we were now completely lost, which prompted me to slap myself on the forehead - I'd completely forgotten to check our direction before we set off out of the gate.

I rose into the air to get a feel for our location, eventually spotting the temple once more and leading the way toward it once I had returned to the ground.

We took a good twenty minutes to reach the building, looking up at it from the bottom of a massive set of stone stairs.

Up close, I could see the pillars spaced along the crumbling walls on either side of the gaping entrance. The skull-like motif further reminded me of the Aztecs which, quite honestly, didn't engender a lot of good feelings in me. Those guys were _crazy_ \- and way too into the whole blood-sacrifices thing, to boot.

We headed inside, casting our eyes around with various degrees of interest. Lucy was admiring the structure itself, probably having an appreciation for large buildings already. Gray himself seemed more interested in its age, and the history behind it.

Natsu...just thought it was shabby.

Personally, I found myself combining both Lucy and Gray's interests. I'd been around quite a lot of heritage sites back home and across the UK. I'd been in castles, both ruined and standing, and I'd traipsed a great many miles to see the circles of hand-hewn rocks which were all that remained of both humble homes and mighty fortifications - time being the great equaliser that it was.

Standing in this hall and seeing this place...made me feel young.

Gray, Natsu and Lucy were examining the markings on the walls, noting the moon imagery - Gray himself noted that Galuna was once known as, quite simply, 'Moon Island'.

My mind wandered off into considering why it might have changed, and why this temple had fallen into disrepair to such a degree. In fact, who had built it? Why had they built it? Was this _natural_ decay, or was it the effects of the Arc of Time?

I didn't know enough to be sure - but my musings were cut short when the floor cracked and then shattered beneath me, while at the same time my teammates all yelled out.

I tumbled a bit until I got my bearings, and found myself falling through a debris field of stone floor-bricks, my teammates doing the same thing. Gray was yelling at Natsu, which was entirely understandable, but what really cut through the roar of noise was Lucy calling my name.

My head immediately back in the game, I reached out en-mass and wrapped the entire debris cloud with my Magic, then hit the handbrake.

Our fall slowed dramatically in a few seconds, coming to a stop seconds after I began as I focussed on first overcoming, and then equalling, Earthland's pull on us. I was rather good at projecting the precise reversal of Earthland's gravity - things did still go backwards on occasion, but usually I could balance the forces rather well.

Now that we were all suspended in the air among a cloud of dirt, dust, plant components and rock, I set about propelling myself to my teammates. I had been almost on the other side of the hall from them, so it took me a little while, and once I got there Lucy was patting Happy on the back, the cat breathing heavily as Natsu threw something away from himself, accidentally sending himself spinning all around.

On the bright side, it made him laugh rather than vomit.

Gray had his arms spread out as if he was trying to balance, despite still facing downward, and had a priceless expression of terrified concentration on his face.

"So...do I need to ask who broke the floor?" I asked, prompting Lucy and Gray to both turn glares on Natsu, who put a hand to the back of his head and chuckled, still rotating though he was now slowing down.

"Eh...sorry? But it was a really shoddy floor - it didn't have any guts!"

"How can a floor have guts?!" Gray demanded, as I reached down and grabbed one of his arms, pulling him the right way up.

Natsu tried to explain the concepts involved to his long-time rival - a conversation I was _very_ glad to have escaped - leaving me free to turn to Happy and Lucy. "I can understand Happy being good at balancing like this, since he's a pretty good flyer himself." I noted, the cat himself beaming happily. "But you're doing better at this than I ever managed at first, Lucy."

The blonde grinned, folding her arms and putting her nose in the air as she liked to do when she was playing up her responses. "Well obviously, that's because boys have no sense of balance." She declared, and I let out a sigh.

 _'Well, I suppose women do tend to exercise their sense of balance more, what with wearing high-heels and everything.'_ I thought to myself. _'She's probably had to do it even more, since she's so top-he-'_

Lucy and Happy were probably a bit confused when I slapped myself across the face, then grabbed the nearest brick and headbutted it several times in quick succession. Still, I felt considerably more in control of myself - if a bit more woozy and rather pained - when I had done so, having banished that part of my brain to the farthest reaches of my consciousness for a good while. "Right then - shall we continue our descent?" I asked, and Lucy nodded.

"There could well be something interesting down here - we should investigate."

I bowed my head in acknowledgement, then reduced the amount of magical power I was using to hold us up, letting us build a downward velocity before re-applying my Magic to balance the forces, stopping us from getting faster and faster as we approached the bottom of the chasm.

We touched down rather softly, considering the massive amount of stone that came down around us, and Gray seemed especially relieved about it - particularly since Natsu finally something to focus on beside trying to explain things to Gray.

The Ice Mage looked up at where we'd fallen from, then around us. "I guess the temple had a basement at some point."

Natsu, on the other hand, had a different explanation. "It's a secret cavern!" He declared, his sense of adventure rising once more as he started looking everywhere around us, eyes growing as wide as his smile at the prospect of exploring. "We're down here already, so we're going to look around aren't we?"

Without waiting for an answer, he went jogging off down the only tunnel leading out of the cavern, despite Gray calling for him to stop. We headed after him, and as we did so, I could feel a prickling at the edge of my senses.

It was...at the same time, both more potent than Lullaby, but less substantial. It was like hearing a loud noise, then hearing the echo of a louder noise. There was still the sense of the second being the greater of the two, but at the same time, it was...diminished.

Natsu stopped first, staring out into another, larger cavern. "What..." He asked, his voice quiet, and gulping as if his throat had suddenly dried out. "What is that...?"

Lucy and Happy were the next to reach the mouth of the tunnel, and both came to a dead stop, their eyes widening, exclamations on their own lips...

Then Gray and I stepped into view of the space beyond, and beside me, the Ice Mage abruptly went as white as freshly-fallen snow, his eyes widening as his pupils dilated and his breathing quickened - instinctive fear/anger response, as I remembered it.

"WHY THE HELL IS THERE A GIANT MONSTER FROZEN IN HERE?!" Natsu asked aloud, voicing what was on all our minds at that time as we stared up at the creature in its mammoth iceberg.

It was a massive humanoid, much like Lullaby, except its body was composed of dark blue flesh in place of wood. Spikes were everywhere, on its hands, its torso, around its neck - even on its back and almost-avian legs. It had a mane of hair down to the back of its neck, leading back from a plate on its forehead which supported two jutting horns. Even frozen in ice with its mouth closed, I could see its teeth - each one almost the size of an adult human.

And just like Lullaby, it had no eyes - merely pitch-black holes in its head.

It took several seconds, but Gray snapped out of his stupor with a single cry. "DELIORA?!"

Lucy, Natsu and Happy all turned to face him, questions on their lips, as the Ice Mage suffered a minor breakdown. "Impossible, it-it _can't_ be here, why is it here?!"

Lucy moved over to us quickly, placing one hand on Gray's shoulder so he'd have something to focus on. Natsu and Happy looked on in worried incomprehension, while I let out a deep breath, feeling the hairs on the back of my head rising at being this close to the demon, even if it _was_ dead.

"Gray...what _is_ it?" Lucy asked quietly, even as the Ice Mage gritted his teeth as he stared up at the monster, his brow creased with mixed anger, sorrow and fear.

"Deliora..." He ground out. "The demon of disaster and misfortune."

Natsu repeated the words to himself, looking up at the monster, and I joined the conversation. "It's like Lullaby...but far, _far_ worse."

Lucy glanced over at me, now aware that I knew something useful, but was distracted by Gray's mutterings. "It hasn't changed at all...in all these years, it hasn't changed a bit... What the Hell is going on here...?"

At that moment, the sound of low voices and footsteps could be heard, and Lucy froze in place for a moment. Then she grabbed Gray and pulled him down behind a rock formation, as Happy pushed Natsu into following and I stayed hot on their heels.

No sooner had we concealed ourselves than two figures emerged from another tunnel leading into the cavern, and we peeked around the rock just barely enough to get a good look at them.

One I recognised as Toby. He dressed only in a pair of shoes and jeans with a skull-and-crossbones motif on the right leg, held up by a black belt. There were several characters I couldn't read tattooed on his right arm, but it was his face that really drew attention. An area tracing his cheekbones down to his jaw was a different colour from the rest of his face, creating the illusion of a muzzle. His nose was flat, triangular and canine. That image was only added to by the skin-coloured ears protruding from beneath his chestnut hair, and all in all, he looked like exactly what he was - a dog man.

The other's name...I forgot. I just remembered that he was a bit of a ponce, and looked it.

His hair was ocean-blue, and stuck up in a style ripped straight out of Dragonball Z. His eyebrows looked like they were on vacation from Maito Gai. Thankfully enough his outfit was his own - a long coat, done in light and dark greens, with white strips of fabric at the front indicating where it opened. It was held together around his waist by a belt, and below it the legs of baggy black trousers could be seen leading into white shoes.

They were unlikely comrades. Where Ponce (as he had been hereby christened) kept his hands entwined behind his back in the at-ease posture, his back ramrod straight, Toby slouched, keeping his hands in his pockets like the hoodlums back home were wont to do.

"You said the voices were coming from here?" Ponce asked, looking around idly.

 _'I guess a combination of little sleep and overconfidence doesn't make for a particularly vigilant patrol.'_ I thought to myself.

Ponce yawned, then out of the blue asked Toby whether or not he'd managed to get the Moon Drip on himself and spontaneously grown his ears.

As the dog man blew his top, exhibiting the general intelligence level of a dog to go along with the looks, Lucy repeated the words 'Moon Drip' to herself, then looked over at me. I just nodded, and she looked ready to sidle in my direction to ask something - until a new set of footsteps approached, and a new voice sounded.

"Yuka, Toby - I have sad news."

 _'Ah, that's his name - Yuka.'_ I considered for a moment. _'Nah, I'm just gonna call him Ponce.'_

The newcomer was female, and probably the same general age that Lucy, Natsu, Gray and I were hovering near, putting here somewhere between seventeen and about twenty - just like Toby, Ponce and Lyon, now that I thought about it.

The first thing about her which caught the eye was her hair - her reddish-pink hair. _'Note to self - find out if those hair colours are natural, a result of unusual ancestry, a fashion statement or some side-effect of practising magic.'_

Her skin was porcelain white - rather like a doll's, appropriately enough. Her features seemed to have been enhanced some by make-up, although I lacked the knowledge necessary to point out what had been done with any degree of accuracy. Her clothing was of the same style as the corset that the giant mouse had been wearing, black with pink patterning and white ruffles, reminiscent of a maid's uniform - or, perhaps, a doll's clothing. There was a bow tied around her neck, and two long, white strips of fabric that may have been some representation of wings hanging from the back of her dress.

I felt my eyebrow twitch when I saw her skirt - did _no-one_ wear a skirt that went beyond the thighs here? Admittedly that could be a problem on Earth too, but still, why did _Mages_ wear such short skirts when there was a good chance that they'd be going airborne or some such? If they wanted freedom of movement, why not just wear trousers?

I discontinued my line of thought - women were a puzzle I'd never solve.

The woman, who Ponce greeted as 'Sherry' when she approached on feet clad in knee-high black leather boots, lowered her face into her hands, letting out a sniffle. "Someone's been harassing Angelica!"

 _'Well, I guess I got that right at least.'_

"It's just a mouse!" Toby complained loudly, prompting Sherry to look up from her hands and frown disapprovingly at him.

"Angelica is more than a mouse! She is a brave hunter who gallops through the darkness." She paused. "And love."

I blinked a couple of times. _'What is it with these people and having strange, signature verbal tics?'_

"There is something seriously wrong with that woman..." Lucy muttered to herself, and I found I couldn't honestly dispute her - something about that girl set me on edge.

At the same time, Natsu and Happy were whispering to one another. "They aren't from this island...their smell's too different."

"Aye, and they don't seem cursed either. Though, I'm not sure about that dog guy..."

Ponce let out a heavy sigh. "Intruders...what a hassle..."

Sherry looked up at the frozen demon in the centre of the cavern. "The moonlight will begin gathering soon...Oh, but how sad this is..." She turned back to her teammates. "Let us deal with them before Lord Reitei hears about this. Yes..." She nodded to herself, eyes seeming rather alarmingly vacant. "Before the moon shows herself..."

Both her teammates nodded acknowledgement, and she continued. "Since they saw Deliora, we can't let him live...we must lay them to an eternal rest. In other words, 'love'."

I stared at the woman for several seconds, suddenly seeing an overlay of _another_ teenage girl with pink hair and an unhealthy mental state. "Oh dear God..." I muttered to myself. "She's a yandere."

Thankfully none of my teammates seemed to hear me, since Toby was yelling at Sherry. That guy really had a hair-trigger temper. "You mean 'Death'! We're going to kill them!"

 _'Thank you, for that absolutely necessary clarification.'_ I snarked to myself, watching and waiting as Team Lyon left the cave to go and search for us.

We stood up from our hiding spots, stretching out our joints as we all considered what we'd heard. "So, now what?" Natsu asked. "I mean, we could have just grabbed those guy to get answers." I shook my head, even as Lucy focussed a somewhat worried look on Gray, who was remaining silent.

"No need - I heard enough." I looked over at Deliora again. "I was right - it _is_ the Moon Drip that's being used here. And now...well, now we know what they're trying to unseal."

At those words, Gray snapped right out of his silence, anger and fear both burning in his eyes. "Those _bastards!_ " He yelled, kicking a rock hard enough to break it in two. "Who the Hell do they think they are, trying to destroy Ur's sacrifice?!"

"Ur?" Lucy asked quietly, while Natsu frowned.

"Gray, you've seen this thing before, right?"

The Ice Mage raged for a moment longer, before spitting words around his gritted teeth. "Yeah, I've seen it before - ten years ago, before it was sealed in an iceberg on the northern continent." He glared up at the monster for several moments. "It's an immortal demon, that penetrated the Isbin area a decade ago..."

He clenched his fists, his arms shaking. "And it's the monster that cost the life of my teacher, Ur, to seal."

Lucy and Natsu both flinched back a bit, the Dragon Slayer grimacing as he undoubtedly recalled how things had gone with his own teacher, and Lucy quite possibly considering her mother.

I just watched, as a chill mist began to swirl around Gray's clenched fists. "I don't know who this Reitei guy is..." He growled, "Or how this thing is linked to the island's curse..." There was a creaking sound, as ice began to spread around the Mage's feet. "But I'm not going to let him get away with disgracing Ur's name!"

He continued to glare at Deliora as Natsu and Lucy rallied themselves, while I stepped forward to stand beside him, looking up at the massive icy prison. "It's strange..." I muttered, largely to myself, though Gray could likely hear me. "How something so beautiful can hold back something so disgusting."

Gray turned to look at me out of the corner of his eye, then let out a long breath, a lot of the tension leaving him at the same time. "If you say so, Declan. But I can't see anything about this as beautiful."

I hummed under my breath, acknowledging what he'd said. I could look at this and see the way the light played in the ice, see its lines and curves. Gray...couldn't see anything but the cost of his teacher's life.

"Could the island's curse be because of this demon?" Lucy asked, tentatively - probably not wanting to upset Gray.

"Indirectly, I'd say so." I replied. "The Moon Drip spell effectively creates a sort of lens above the effect area, which can filter moonlight through it to gather a significant amount of magical power. As far as I know, it's never been used in a populated area before, though - so who knows what effects its light could have on unprotected people?"

"Well, I think we do now - as well as the villagers." Lucy noted, her tone dry as I left the obvious opening.

"Point." I admitted, nodding.

At this point, Natsu stepped forward, frowning at the icy prison. "So, this thing was brought here from the northern continent - how come someone would try and break the seal?"

"Isn't it obvious, flame-brain?" Gray asked, sounding more tired than angry. "It's because that damn demon is still alive in there, though what reason anyone would have for wanting it free is beyond me."

"Right..." The Dragon Slayer muttered, before grinning wildly and spinning his arm to loosen up his shoulder. "In that case, I'll take a shot at him-!"

His voice cut off when I pulled him backwards with a grip on the back of his waistcoat, at the same time catching the fist that Gray loosed almost instinctively - though both actions were enough to have me gritting my teeth with the necessary exertion. Even when they weren't going all-out, the casual strength these two exhibited was mind boggling.

It took Gray a moment to blink away the reflex to punch Natsu's lights out, and it took the Dragon Slayer a moment to register that he'd just narrowly evaded a shiny new bruise. Once they were back in full control of their faculties, I turned to Natsu. "Natsu...maybe we _shouldn't_ be helping the people willing to commit murder, by speeding up their plans to release the apocalyptic hell-beast from the ice which is basically all that's left of Gray's teacher?"

The teen blinked a few times, probably thinking about how it sounded when I put it that way, as Gray glared at him - though he didn't make a move to go after him. "No Fire Mage should be going near this ice!" He confirmed. "Don't you get it? If Deliora gets loose, there'll be no stopping him!"

Natsu began to glare right back, his usual temper flaring. "What, are you saying the ice would melt that easily?"

That shocked Gray right out of his anger, and for a moment he looked utterly confused - before he glanced away from us all, his body losing its tension once more. "No..." He almost-whispered. "No, it wouldn't..."

Lucy, who had been observing with worried eyes since I interfered with Natsu getting decked, moved over now, placing a hand on Gray's shoulder once more as I stepped back to stand with Natsu, who was standing quietly now. "Are you okay, Gray?" She asked quietly, prompting another long sigh from the Ice Mage as he spoke up once more.

"Ur...cast a spell she called Iced Shell on Deliora, using all her magical power and even her own life-force. The ice it creates will never melt, it won't even soften under the most intense flame." He looked up, turning his gaze on me. "Declan...you said that the Moon Drip could be used in unsealing things."

I took the cue, and nodded. "It doesn't work like a flame at all - it's not actually heating the ice." I told him. "It's actually interfering with the magic that created the ice and keeps it frozen - but at the same time, a spell which uses a Mage's entire reserves plus their life is an untold amount of magical power. Normally, not even the Moon Drip would be enough to break it..."

I tailed off, then swung my arm around to indicate our position. "But this is Galuna Island - remember what the mayor said about how this place gets massive amounts of moonlight?" Comprehension dawned on the team's faces, and I nodded. "Anywhere else on Earthland, this spell wouldn't be enough - but here, it's got enough moonlight to break even the Iced Shell."

"But it still doesn't make _sense!_ " Gray yelled, fists clenching once more. "What could they _want?_ What could they possibly gain from freeing Deliora?"

I remained silent - at this time, I couldn't possibly know the answer to that question, and so I had to hold my tongue even as Gray gritted his teeth once more, turning away. "Dammit..." He muttered. "I can't focus..."

"Then let's get the answers." Natsu interjected, drawing attention to himself as he pointed out one of the entrances to the cavern - a set of carved stairs leading upward. "All we gotta do is find the people responsible and beat the answer out of 'em, right?"

I nodded, as Lucy placed her hands on her hips and agreed as well - but Gray's voice interrupted, quietly but forcefully. "No."

Our attention went back to the Ice Mage, who was still staring at Deliora - but looking more focussed now. "We'll wait here until the moon comes up." He continued. "If this spell only works at night, then we can be sure of finding the people casting the spell then, right?"

He looked over at me, and I nodded. "Gray's right," I told the others. "We'll be sure of finding them that way, instead of having to search the island for them."

"But we'll be so _BORED!"_ Natsu moaned, while Lucy let out a little sigh before looking for somewhere comfortable to sit.

While she was doing so, I moved over to a decently-sized rock, and placed a hand on either side of it. With my eyes closed, directing my Magic was easier, and it ran over the stone, absorbing its gravitational field into itself. That done, I imagined a tower - a tower composed of stacked discs, like a pillar of coins. Then I started to spin them in alternating directions, one clockwise one counter-clockwise, up through its structure until all the discs were grinding against one another.

As I kept up the thought exercise, it translated itself into my Magic, and gravity around and through the stone started to twist against itself, pulling at the bonds between molecules. In half a second, a strained creaking sound could be heard; moments later, the stone abruptly shattered all along its height, breaking into sections vertically and fragmenting terribly.

Those fragments and the sections which were still mostly intact began to strain even further, trying to move past one another in different directions, friction pulling on their surfaces and tearing at the bonds in the silicon-oxygen mix.

As the acceleration continued, eventually speed overcame resistance, and the stone whirred against itself with a sound not unlike a rockslide - grinding itself to dust.

With a minute's work, all that was left was a sphere of sand-consistency rock dust, floating in the air as a single point of gravity held it together.

The others had been watching ever since I'd started up my racket, and continued to do so after I found a good divot on the floor and dropped the sphere of sand-substitute into it, then lay back on the shifting surface. _'Much better than sitting on a rock - it's almost like being at the beach, except it's not in my shoes.'_

Something nudged my shoulder, and I opened one eye, finding myself looking up at Lucy - who was now wearing a pleading expression.

 _'...I really need to develop a resistance to that.'_ I decided, rolling to my feet from my impromptu lounger/bed. Once I had done so, I shrugged out of my duster, then laid it back down on the sand. Once I had done so, I gestured to it with one arm, as Lucy seemed to get what I intended.

"Declan, I was just wondering if you could do that for me as well - you don't need to give up something you did for yourself."

I smiled at the sentiment, but shook my head. "Nah - the coat's basically a bed-sheet for the sand-mattress. Without it, the dust will get in your clothes, and that'll just be annoying. Besides," I hopped off the ground, bringing up my legs into a cross-legged position as I remained floating in mid-air. "I've never tried an air mattress before - it'll be good a good experience for me."

Lucy stared at me for several seconds longer, then blew out a quick breath, settling down on the coat. "I'll find some way to pay you back." She decided, and I snorted.

"What's a bed between friends?"

I realised how that could be construed several seconds after the fact, and promptly elevated myself several more metres, until I was sitting halfway to the ceiling. That done, I stretched out my body until I was standing in mid-air, before tilting myself backwards ninety degrees and stabilising once more.

It was...interesting, really. Without anything physical for me to be leaning on, my body was basically just holding itself spontaneously in the air. So, it wasn't exactly uncomfortable, like lying on a floor would be - but it was still less comfortable than an actual bed, I decided.

I closed my eyes, placing my hands behind my head, and I could just about pretend I was lying on a hammock. The sound of Natsu snoring reverberated up to me, and I sighed to myself - it seemed I had been spoiled by the quiet night I'd had with Lucy.

...

 _'Dammit, I thought I'd got rid of you! Back! Back to the darkness, I say!'_

I spent the next hour or so trying not to think of anything to do with my blonde teammate - unfortunately, it was the equivalent of trying not to think about a pink elephant, and I just ended up getting more and more frustrated with myself as time went by, until I was broken from my pseudo-meditation by the sound of Lucy sighing.

"Natsu was right about us getting bored..." I heard her say, though she sounded a bit drowsy - it seemed that she was at least comfortable. "Ah, I know!" Several seconds passed, then she spoke again. **"Open, Gate of the Lyre - Lyra!"**

There was a rush of wind and the sound of bells, and I opened my eyes, looking over my shoulder to the ground below. Natsu and Lucy were both lying down, though the latter had raised herself into a sitting position to use her Key. Gray was sitting with his fingers interlocking beneath his chin, in the classic Uchiha brooding posture. Happy had curled up beside Natsu. Now, though, there was a new figure among us.

Standing beside Lucy, bouncing up and down in excitement, was a young woman in a pastel-blue dress, cinched around the waist with a soft pink sash. Brown shoes and enclosed her feet, and a couple of inches above them the dress bore a white ruff trim. Yellow hearts with pink borders were printed above where her thighs would be, adding decoration beyond even the two cherub-esque wings extending from her shoulders.

Her hair was orangey-blonde, curling inwards at the ends as it spilled out from under a pink bonnet-shawl combination. Most attention-grabbing, though, was the massive lyre on her back.

It was turquoise, with a pink pattern along its bottom arm that resembled a stylised wave or gust of wind. Rising from the top of its spine was a golden-yellow heart design, with two arms curling out from just beneath it.

The girl, Lyra, immediately started chattering with Lucy - she seemed to act her apparent age, since she was very... _bubbly._

I tuned out most of what she said almost on autopilot (selective hearing was a very useful tool when one was surrounded by gossipy teenagers for most of their days), until the sound of strings began to fill the air.

Lyra's voice, soft and gentle, soon joined her instrument as music drifted around the cavern, warming everything it touched - or so it seemed.

Almost without my direction, my thoughts turned to home - to the memories I had treasured, even among the new ones I was making here. To that which held the most value for me out of all the things in life.

I remembered Heather, and I felt a deep, familiar ache in my chest, and in the back of my throat.

But no tears came.

Even when the music came to a soft close, and Lucy's voice betrayed the regret she felt at evoking sorrowful memories in Gray, my eyes were dry.

"I guess I was right..." I mumbled to myself, even as the throb in my chest tried to close my throat. "No more tears to shed."

* * *

I didn't get much rest in the next few hours - memories still played in the back of my mind, forbidding sleep. The burn in my chest persisted, all the worse since I couldn't manage to release it.

As such, I was awake when the first rumblings came - I welcomed them even, since it gave me something new to focus on. I descended quickly to the floor, while the others were rousing themselves - well, Happy, Lucy and Natsu were. Gray, I could tell, hadn't rested either - and I had the feeling that, when I met his eyes, he saw something I wasn't entirely sure I wanted him to.

One way or another, the understanding look that went by so fast I might have imagined it vanished behind a veneer of anger as a cascade of purple light poured down from the ceiling and collided with the Iced Shell, causing a massive flash that prompted me to throw my forearms over my eyes until it abated.

When I looked again, the torrent of magical power was still hammering down on the prison - and it pulled at my magical sense, like a massive river that almost seemed to suck me toward it.

"Let's go!" Gray shouted, leading the charge for the stairs, going fast enough that I had to push to keep up. Behind us, I could hear Natsu and Lucy following, and when the blonde caught up with me she handed over my duster.

The simple act had me staring at her for a moment, while my brain, beleaguered and, even at the best of times, prone to making a fool of me around my teammate, conjured a phantom over her shoulder. A short phantom, with sandy brown hair, set above a mischievous face and a wide smile.

It vanished between one step and the next, and I took the coat, swinging it around my shoulders and feeding my arms into its sleeves as we ran. I considered for a few seconds, memories still plaguing me, before speaking only loud enough for her to hear. "Thanks, princess."

I could feel myself become lighter when she replied. "What are friends for, sir knight?"

I dared to smile as we reached the stairwell, all our paces picking up as our weight became a fraction of what it was, and we starter clearing easily six or more steps in a single step. _'No more tears - but at least I can still smile.'_

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **First of all, thank you, everyone who is reading this story, for your support - every review I've had so far has been supportive or constructive, and I appreciate all of them. However, since several of them were Guest reviews that I can't reply to directly, I'll do so here.**

 **'Guest', Ch. 6, Jan 11 -** I honestly find it interesting that you and several other people compare this fic to This Bites!, largely because I was inspired to write this, in large part, by that fic. I really enjoy it, which is why I chose 'Ross' as my character's last name. Really, the way in which Cross tends to get the shit kicked out of him is par for the course with his power level in his setting - it fits thematically, and it really just fits his character that he takes beatings like that and keeps going. My character, on the other hand, is one who I felt would fit better into the story with the ability to give as good as he gets. Hence the difference - I'm just glad that I seem to have found a balance between too powerful and not powerful enough while preserving an interesting character.

 **'Soul', Ch. 7, Jan 17** \- Yep, the pairing's gonna be with Lucy. (Sorry to all the NaLu fans out there.) It wasn't originally planned, but then I realised something - _I_ really like Lucy's character, meaning Declan would like her character. At the same time, Lucy is similar enough to the friend of mine who inspired Heather that I believed it would be realistic for her to be friends with Declan. That just got built on more and more as the story developed in my head and on my pages, and then I got into a conversation with Kallin22 and it solidified in my head. Plus, in my head, various characters are almost pre-paired; like Gray and Juvia, Erza and Jellal, Gajeel and Levy - and, though more tentatively, Natsu and Lissana. So, Lucy was an option without disrupting my head-canon.

 **'Ururrak', Ch. 7, Jan** **17** \- I'm glad to hear your high opinion of my story; I just hope I don't get you in trouble with my writing!

 **'Angel Faux', Ch.1, Jan 20** \- The meetings with Bluenote, Kagura and Risley Law will all come with time, and I'll try to make sure they're all interesting in one way or another - hopefully they'll live up to whatever hype might build. Also, I feel like it isn't that big a spoiler to say that, yes, Chibaku Tensei will make an appearance down the line. I have quite a lot of finishers and specialised techniques in my head, along with the mechanics of how they'd work - I am, after all, a physicist first and foremost. I'll endeavour to come up with a scientific answer to any problem or opponent Declan faces, even if the means of implementing those answers breaks a few...well, more than a few...laws of physics.


	10. IX - Torque

The stairs terminated, I was fairly sure, at around the same elevation as we'd originally fallen from. We emerged into a hall much like the one we first discovered - discounting the fact that this area still had most of a floor, anyway.

And it was only most, as a perfectly circular section had either fallen in or had been lifted away, perfectly aligned with another hole in the ceiling, the torrent of magical energy pouring through both of them to crash down on Deliora below us. "Keep going up!" Gray commanded, and we found our way to another staircase, set into one of the walls of the room.

Following that even further up, we finally emerged into the night air, taking a moment to re-orient ourselves as we gathered at the entrance to the stairwell. Our eyes immediately went to the towering column of purple light, and we ran toward a decrepit wall, keeping low to minimise the odds of being spotted as we settled into crouches, peering over the top of the structure.

"What _is_ that...?" Natsu muttered, earning him a 'shush!' from Lucy, although I felt the question was warranted. It wasn't every day you saw a group outfitted like the KKK's intellectually challenged cousins standing in a circle around a fountain of mystical energy, droning something. I wasn't sure if it was an actual language, or if it was just sound - but one way or another, it was really irritating me.

They were all dressed in dark-blue, fully-body robes - atop those, black mantles were worn around their necks and over their shoulders, with their faces concealed by blocky white hoods, black crescent moons marked over the holes for the eyes. _'Brilliant. We're fighting the KKK.'_

They all had their arms spread wide, as if awaiting a hug that never came - and I could tell from this distance, when I felt for it, that they were all channelling their magical power through one another, then on, up into the sky. I filed away the note that it was apparently possible to share magical power, or to meld it in some way, as a useful tip to be researched more thoroughly when I was back in Magnolia - then, I turned to where I felt more signatures approaching, and grabbed Natsu by the shoulder while beside me, Lucy did the same to Gray. "More are coming." I hissed, as the two scowling Mages let themselves be held back, for now - I had no illusions about actually being able to stop either one of them if they got going.

Ponce and Toby were behind the new arrival and to the left - both of them looking a bit dopey with lack of sleep. Good - that made our jobs easier. But the one leading them, who fairly radiated magical power and a sensation I easily likened to Gray's, was the one who had my attention.

For the moment, his features were largely concealed by a metal helmet, styled after a dragon if my guess was right - forward-facing horns, a jaw complete with pointed teeth, and a long white mane of some kind of hair trailing back away from it. A white cloak with black-furred shoulders covered most of their body, held loosely closed by golden clasps along the front - of which only one had been closed, at the neck. The interior of the coat was dark red, while the trim was golden, and beneath it was a blue coat which fell to their knees, also trimmed in gold and with a belt buckled around it at the waist to keep it closed. Beneath it were dark-purple trousers, leading into armoured boots.

 _'He's like a reverse Erza.'_

The figure was advancing at a casual pace, the two lackeys behind him holding a muttered conversation - up until Toby suddenly started yelling, anyway. His volume really was as unpredictable as a dog's.

Sherry crested the top of the hill, approaching from another direction, and reached the figure - quickly reporting their failure to catch the day's intruders, namely us.

The figure turned to her, their expression inscrutable behind the iron mask. "Intruders..."

At the sound of his voice, which carried surprisingly well across the distance separating him from our group and considering the amateur-dramatics magical ritual still droning on in the background, Gray's head snapped up - like a bloodhound who'd just caught a scent.

"Is that Reitei?" Natsu asked aloud, and I nodded.

"Gotta be, with how they're all deferring to him."

"Look at him, acting all high and might with a weird mask and all..." Lucy muttered, scowling at the man across the divide.

"I think it looks cool!" Happy added, and I acknowledged his two cents with a quick pat on the head before turning my focus back to the Mages in front of us.

"How long will it be until Deliora is revived?" The figure of Reitei asked, sounding quite impatient - understandable, considering it'd been a three year wait and all.

"It should be today or tomorrow." Sherry replied, prompting Toby to once again raise his voice - apparently the dog man was just as impatient as his master.

A self-satisfied smirk pulled at the corners of Reitei's lips. "We're almost there."

Gray was staring at the man's helmet with such focus I was surprised it hadn't spontaneously melted - or, considering it was Gray, that it hadn't started frosting over.

The man's smirk faded, leaving his expression anyone's guess. "I don't want anyone getting in the way now." He addressed Sherry, speaking over his shoulder without deigning to turn around and speak with the woman. "The village is the only place on the island where humans live..."

The man raised one hand, pointing it unerringly toward where I knew the village must be. "So go and obliterate it."

Ponce and Toby straightened up instantly; Sherry's somewhat vapid countenance hardened, as she spun away, following her comrades' lead as they began to run toward the village.

"What the hell are they doing?!" Natsu growled, eyes darting to follow the Mages as they ran, the air around him beginning to heat rapidly.

Besides us, Lucy was watching them go with wild eyes, hand already going for her keys. "The townspeople can't get involved in this - what do we do?!"

Gray's response, though...

The Ice Mage's features were strained, casting strange shadows beneath his eyes. He was trembling with some repressed emotion, and I could hear stone cracking beneath his fingers as he gripped the wall. "It _can't_ be..." He muttered to himself, his voice edging into a growl. "It has to be a lie...!"

With Lucy undecided, Gray on the verge of a breakdown and Happy...not particularly suited for this situation, Natsu and I were the ones in the best position to make a move. The Dragon Slayer was already climbing atop the wall, cheeks beginning to bulge as flames swelled in his gullet and mouth; I didn't have anything quite so showy, so I decided to let Natsu do what he did best.

Spectacle.

The tongue of flame leapt several feet into the sky, lighting the area surrounding us like a flash-bang going off. The roar of the flames, coinciding with a yell from Natsu, immediately drew all attention - halting the running Mages in their tracks.

Lucy cursed beside me, raising her keys as she tensed to move or open a Gate. Gray snapped momentarily out of his murder-fugue - his natural inclination to try and beat the stupid out of Natsu was probably overriding most of his other mental faculties. And me...

I scrounged around for a good brick, then beckoned it into my hand, where I started tossing it up and down as I fixed my eyes on our opponents.

There was a momentary stand-off; Lyon's implacable, helmeted form was the closest to us, while the mooks carrying out the ritual were a metre or two beyond him, and the three 'lieutenants' were hesitating a few metres beyond them. Our group were all standing now, ready for combat.

"That mark - they're from Fairy Tail!" Sherry observed, while Ponce's eyes narrowed.

"Hm - so the village called a Guild for help."

"What are you doing?"

Lyon's voice, about as cold as his Magic, spread out through the area once more. One hand rose from inside his cloak, prepared to make a gesture to go along with his order - but instead found himself toppling backwards with a rather distinct lack of grace, just barely dropping below the brick I'd tossed at his head.

"""YOU BASTARD!""" The trio of lieutenants hollered almost as one, as their leader rolled himself to his feet - I swear, I could feel his glare even without seeing his eyes. """WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING TO LORD REITEI?!"""

Snorting, I stuck the pinky of my left hand in my ear. "I'm throwing bricks at him. What does it _look_ like?"

To emphasise my point, another brick leapt into my hand, and I tossed it just as I had the first - although this time, ice seemed to condense from the air itself to form around Lyon's hand, manifesting as interlocking hexagons that easily stopped the brick before it could reach him.

At the sight of it, I heard Gray's breath hitch - and then he was gone, over the wall and sprinting as he brought his hands together, slamming them onto the ground with a howl. A sound like all the world's plastic bending in an instant preceded an ever-growing line of ice crystals, growing fast, tall and sharp as they tore toward the man in the white cloak...

And were met in return by an almost exact replica, the two attacks colliding in one massive formation of crystals as their motion ground to a halt before the structure broke apart and collapsed, leaving the two Ice Mages to glare at one another over the dividing distance.

"Lyon..." Gray growled, each tendon in his neck and arms visible as he gritted his teeth. "What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?!"

Natsu, Lucy and Happy all blinked several times, before Lucy voiced what they were all thinking. "Wait, Gray knows this guy?!"

"Gray..." Lyon replied, his voice an amused drawl in contrast to Gray's barely-suppressed rage. "Well well well, it _has_ been quite some time, hasn't it?" He chuckled. "Of all the Mages the townspeople could have brought here to help, it was you...I wonder, is this coincidence? Or something else?" He chuckled again, the smug git. "Ah, I suppose it doesn't matter."

Lyon raised his voice, not turning away from Gray as he delivered instructions to his lieutenants. "Go and destroy the village - I can handle this myself."

Before the trio could even voice agreement, Natsu was off, sprinting for them with a yell. "Like I'd let you!"

Gray turned swiftly, trying to yell a warning, but found himself acting a bit too late - at the same time, my own attempt at pulling Natsu back with a Bansho Ten'in failed; apparently Natsu's magical power had ramped up to full combat levels, and my attempt slid straight off him.

White, curving beams of magical power converged on the Dragon Slayer, the air around him chilling at supernatural speeds, the water vapour therein forming a prison that I knew would likely be beyond any of our abilities to undo by force. Having failed to prevent that, I grimaced, then grabbed Lucy around the waist and kicked straight up, rising into the air alongside Happy as similar streaks of white raced in our direction, freezing the ground where we had been standing moments before.

Gray yelled, charging Lyon and beginning to fling various icy constructs at him, attacks which the other Ice Mage repelled using the same hexagonal shield formation as he'd used on my brick earlier. With the Mage distracted, I turned to Happy. "Happy, try and get Natsu! I'll cover you!"

"Aye!" The feline dropped into a dive, accelerating hard before levelling out at around the level of Natsu's neck as he flashed across the clearing. The little guy grabbed the Dragon Slayer's scarf, as the only easily accessible handhold on Natsu now that he had been ensconced in an icy boulder leaving only his forearms, his legs below the knee, his neck and his head exposed.

Happy tugged hard, but it was obvious that the weight was beyond even him - so, I narrowed my eyes, and layered a general area-of-effect lightening on Natsu's magical resonance, trusting less in my eyes and more on the pseudo-spatial sensations of my Magic.

The partners abruptly went from barely-moving to bat-out-of-hell, and I could hear Natsu's startled shouts as they both suddenly raced off into the distance.

"Whoops..." I muttered, while Lucy, who had been quiet since I grabbed her, seemed to choke off a laugh in favour of a concerned look back at the top of the hill, where flashes of light indicated the ongoing battle even as we retreated.

"So we're just leaving Gray to fight that guy?"

I grunted, scanning the island with my eyes and making sure we were heading for the village - I had lost track of Lyon's cheerleading bench during the excitement, and I couldn't pick out their magical resonance, so were stuck on the reactive for now. "Gray's tough - we'll just have to trust him to take care of himself."

"And Natsu?"

I paused for a few moments. "Well...I'm sure he's fine."

* * *

 _At that moment, a good ways out to sea..._

"Gah! Hold on, Happy, we're gonna be fine!"

"Sorry Natsu...you got too heavy..."

"It's fine! I can float, so I can swim!"

"...Natsu?"

"Yeah, Happy?!"

"Have you ever eaten shark before?"

"Not yet - maybe we can buy some in Hargeon. Why?"

The blue cat, from where he was splayed out on the part of the icy sphere above Natsu's torso, the Dragon Slayer currently doing a mildly effective backstroke in the general direction of Galuna Island, pointed one paw wordlessly to the duo's left - where a dark grey, triangular fin could be seen cutting the water.

"...Declan _so_ owes us dinner."

"Aye."

* * *

 _Declan's POV_

"Perfectly fine."

I'm not sure if I was trying to assure myself or Lucy - either way, I'm fairly sure it didn't work all that well.

"Either way, it's just us for the moment - so we're gonna be the ones keeping the village safe. Do you have any ideas?"

The Mage chewed on her bottom lip as she thought, and I had to focus to keep our flight steady and on-course - hopefully, she wouldn't notice that we drifted a few degrees to the right as my eyes wandered.

"Well..." She mused, as we finally reached the village gates and touched down. "First, let's let the villagers know that we've confirmed it's the Moon Drip - that should give them some hope."

 _'Her first thought's for morale, rather than physical preparations - not really surprising.'_ Lucy Heartfilia, with her heart on her sleeve.

I retrieved my arm with a certain degree of reluctance, before looking up as the guards currently on duty appeared atop the wall. "We're back from the forest!" I called. "We've gotta talk with everyone, and quickly!"

The gate was opened in short order, and Lucy and I found that most (if not all) of the village had gathered as we stood in the same place we'd been standing during the team's initial introduction to the population. Lucy and I shared a look, before she stepped forward. "We found what's been causing your problem!" She announced, instantly garnering the complete attention of all the villagers. "It wasn't just the moon - it's a spell, that a group of Mages have been carrying out. It's changing the moonlight, which is changing _you._ "

Muttering broke out all around, and Lucy gave it a moment before she continued. "We tried to catch them, but they scattered. One of our teammates is fighting with their leader, while the other two are..." She glanced sideways at me, and I coughed into my hand - a cough which sounded suspiciously like 'scouting', though I'd deny anything if asked. "Scouting the island, and should be back sooner or later.

"In the meantime, anyone else who comes down here will be one of those Mages who were casting the spell, meaning we'll need to capture them and make them undo the spell."

The villagers started turning to one another, the murmuring rising among them like the drone of bees - although I dared say that they were sounding a bit hopeful.

As they were doing so, I turned to Lucy, lowering my voice as I caught her attention. "That should do their morale some good - but remember, the three that Lyon guy dispatched are all Mages with unknown abilities, and it's just you and I here. We're outnumbered and on the defensive - that means we need to be prepared for when they get here."

"You're right..." Lucy replied, cupping her chin and thinking deeply for a few moments. Then, when her eyes opened, she clapped her hands together with a gleeful smile. "I've got an idea!"

Her explanation of what exactly that idea might have been was interrupted by a voice rising over the general murmurs of the townspeople, as the Mayor strode forward. "What's all the commotion about?!"

As the aged demon came forward, staff hitting the ground every other step, Lucy and I both turned to face him. I stepped back a touch again, as Lucy gathered her thoughts and took a breath. "Ah, Mayor. Declan and I just got back from the ruins at the other end of the island - there were a group of Mages there who were behind the spell that transformed you and the others; some of them are coming here now, so we need to get ready for an attack."

The demon stared for a moment, then seemed to swell, drawing himself up for an outburst that I winced in expectation of - but then deflated, seeming to age even further as he placed almost his whole weight on his staff. "So, in the end, it wasn't really the moon..." He murmured, almost too quietly to hear. Around him, some of the other demons turned sympathetic eyes his way, placing oddly-formed limbs on his shoulders to offer some semblance of comfort.

A few moments passed before the Mayor looked up. He looked old, and tired - but there was a firm set to his eyes and jaw now. "Mages...I know I might have hired you to destroy the moon, but...please, help us. Do not let more of my people suffer as...as my son..."

The elderly demon broke down into quiet sobbing, and was carefully led away by some of the townspeople, leaving Lucy and I to look after him.

Standing behind her, I couldn't see Lucy's expression shifting - but when she turned around, she was as determined as I'd ever seen her, and already going for the keyring on her belt. "Declan." She began, and I drew myself upright as she selected one key in particular. "Let's get to work."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, I hopped several metres straight up to the lip of a rather gratuitously deep pit trap, settling onto level ground once more and glancing backward. I couldn't actually see the bottom of the hole, it being cast in shadow by the angle of the moon, and it made the excavation look even more impressive than it actually was.

Beside me, the ground rumbled for a moment before disgorging a girl around Lucy and I's age, wearing a black dress leading to thigh-high white socks under a white, frilled apron. Her hair was cherry-blossom pink, and her eyes were an incredibly intense shade of ocean-blue.

Though, people would probably notice the manacles she wore on her wrists, completed with disconnected chains, before taking note of her other features.

"Nice work, Virgo." I complimented the spirit, idly brushing some stray particles of earth-matter off my coat's arm as she bowed her head slightly.

"Thanks from me too, Virgo - you're even better at this than I'd expected." Lucy smiled, prompting Virgo to turn and favour her with a deeper bow than the one she'd given me - which was to be expected, seeing as Lucy was her contractor.

"My thanks, Princess - will you punish me?"

The blonde blinked several times, thrown by the contradiction of being punished for a job well done, while I found myself suppressing a chuckle - for all that Virgo was probably Lucy's most reliable Celestial Spirit, she could be quite troublesome for the blonde to summon.

Seeing the look on my teammate's face, I cackled for a moment, smirking as I spoke up. "Well that's one knight and one maid, o Princess - we'll have to find you a castle sooner or later."

As Lucy flushed a brighter shade of red, Virgo offered a firm nod. "Indeed - the Princess must reside in a fitting domicile. If she wishes, I can perform suitable renovations on her current residence?"

Lucy and I both froze in tandem - I wondered if she had just pictured the same thing I had.

Namely, Virgo demolishing Strawberry Street in order to make room for a new castle.

We glanced at one another, and I felt we understood each other perfectly in that instant, as Lucy turned back to her, perhaps _too_ loyal, Spirit. "Thank you for the offer, Virgo, but...ah..."

As my teammate searched for a reason to deny the request (or at least one that would make sense to a cosmically-empowered, fanatically devoted maid) I used the first excuse that came to mind.

"She needs more servants first." I told Virgo, keeping my face straight even as Lucy shot me a what-the-Hell-are-you-doing look from the corner of my eye. "After all, the Princess is too kind to place all that labour on just your shoulders, and she couldn't be expected to help with the upkeep herself. I am just a lowly knight, and therefore lack the skills you possess in maintaining a residence. Thus, it must wait until the Princess has a sufficient entourage."

Lucy had buried her face in her hands, out of embarrassment or despair I wasn't sure, but Virgo nodded in acceptance. "I understand." She turned back to her contractor, offering another bow. "I apologise for my impertinent offer, Princess - will you punish me?"

The blonde flinched bodily, then looked up, her voice a tad shaky as she replied. "Perhaps later - for now, you can go back home, Virgo."

The spirit bowed once more, then became lit from within by a golden light that grew to encompass her, before blowing away like sand - signifying Virgo's return to the Celestial Spirit Realm.

As she went, I took a breath, closing my eyes and probing as widely as I could, searching for magical resonance.

Nothing. No Natsu, no Gray, no Happy - not even Moe, Larry or Curly.

Er - Ponce, Toby or Sherry.

Huh - I'd forgotten Ponce's actual name again. Oh well, it wasn't that important.

 _'I guess Natsu's taking a while getting back from wherever he and Happy ended up...or I missed a cue somewhere.'_

I shrugged to myself. _'Ah, well - he'll be fine. It's_ Natsu; _what's the worst that could happen?'_

* * *

 _Elsewhere..._

Gray Fullbuster lay on the forest floor, eyes unseeing as he stared at the miscellaneous foliage and fallen leaves before him. He had been utterly, thoroughly trounced by Lyon - the same Lyon who had once been his fellow student while he was learning Ice Magic from Ur, the woman who had taken him under her wing after his family was killed by the Demon Deliora.

He had spent years with her, learning her art. Almost his entire world had come to be centred around his teacher; much like a surrogate mother or older sister, he had held nothing but respect and mild awe for her.

Then, he had heard that Deliora was nearby, and his anger had overridden both his respect for his teacher and his own common sense.

He would have died, when he went to challenge the Demon. _Should_ have died, in his own opinion. But he hadn't; even though he had failed to even harm the monster, he had walked away with his life.

But only because Ur had sacrificed her own.

Lyon hated him. That, Gray had to acknowledge, was probably the way things ought to be. Ur had meant just as much to Lyon as she had to Gray; she had been his benchmark, his dream of what he might one day become. For Gray to have then gone and cost the woman her life...yes, Gray could understand why Lyon hated him.

But at the same time, he knew that his fellow student had gone too far.

He had given up the style Ur had taught them - two-handed, stable Ice-Make Magic - in favour of one-handed, dynamic Ice-Make. It was a far more volatile technique, unbalanced; more powerful in some respects, yet weaker in others. Ur had specifically warned them against it, and yet Lyon had now obviously become a practitioner.

Not only that, but he was trying to _free Deliora!_ He seemed to believe that, in order to prove himself superior to their old teacher, he had to defeat the monster that it had taken Ur's life to seal away.

Gray was convinced that Lyon had gone off his rocker somewhere along the way to his current state...and yet, as he lay on fallen leaves, grasses and loamy earth, he couldn't be angry any more. Couldn't even summon up pity for his fallen counterpart.

A shadow blocked out the moonlight, and Gray managed to turn one eye up toward whatever was casting it, almost uncaring of whether or not it was some predator come to finish him off.

Then he blinked. Once. Twice. His eye turned further up, and managed to turn his neck so he could fix the sight before him with both eyes and just _stare._

"Man, you got really beat up didn't you? That's pretty lame, you know."

Gray kept staring.

"Oi, what's the matter with you?"

The Ice Mage stared some more, finally managing to summon words. "Natsu...why do you have a shark?"

Natsu glanced sideways to his left hand, currently holding the tail of what was, indeed, a several-foot-long shark. The creature itself was more than slightly browned, and remained unmoving - even though Happy was currently doing a little dance on its back, muttering and cheering to himself as he drooled.

The Dragon Slayer shrugged. "I was gonna see if the villagers could make something from it; I've never had shark before."

Gray stared for a few moments more, than let out a long sigh, closing his eyes. "Natsu...why are you here?"

The teen grunted, reaching down with one arm to grab his fellow Mage's collar. "Well, Happy and I kinda ended up in the sea after we flew away from the ritual - so, when we got back, I went to the highest place I could think of to try and remember which way to go."

With a heavy exhalation, Natsu managed to swing Gray over the top of his personal ice boulder, still dragging the shark along behind him with his left hand. "Anyway, I can see the lights off in that direction - so let's go!"

Gray hissed as his ribs protested the slight up-and-down motion of the walking, though the chill of the ice numbed some of the pain. "What happened to Lyon?"

"Not sure," Natsu admitted, continuing to walk. "Happy and I were too far away to see what happened, and when we got back all of the Mages up there had scattered. Bastard could be anywhere."

Gray grimaced, while Natsu kept slogging forward determinedly. "We gotta get back there..." The Dragon Slayer muttered, probably more to himself than his companions. "If we don't, Declan and Lucy might finish beating them all before we get a chance to fight!"

Gray's eyes closed a bit - he lacked the energy to even comment on the Dragon Slayer's constant battle-mania, his stubborn disregard for any possible obstacles in his way. He had a one-track mind, and he never deviated from his course.

Almost like...

 _"You can't win, Gray! Not yet! It's still too early for you to face Deliora!"_

The Ice Mage felt a lump in his throat that rose quickly, even as he stifled his own voice. His eyes burned, and he felt some of the blood on his cheek being washed away. "I guess...I can't blame you for anything. Can I, Natsu?"

His whisper drew the other teen's attention, and the Dragon Slayer glanced back at him. "Eh? What are you on about, Gray?"

Gray bit his lip, feeling more blood being washed about. "I really...can't blame you..."

Natsu paused for a moment, looking over his shoulder at this teammate. His head turned back to facing forward, and there was silence except for quieted gulps of air for a few moments.

Then Natsu looked up, and light flared in the forest, spilling forward from his open mouth as his voice rose. "DON'T GO ALL INSECURE ON ME JUST BECAUSE YOU GOT YOUR ASS KICKED!"

The sudden noise startled Gray straight out of his funk, and he stared at Natsu as the Dragon Slayer kept yelling. "WE ARE FAIRY TAIL! WE NEVER STOP, BECAUSE WE DON'T KNOW HOW! WE KEEP RUNNING, BECAUSE THAT'S THE ONLY WAY WE CAN LIVE!"

The former rising/falling motion began again, but more pronounced this time, and growing with each step as Natsu built up speed. Soon, they were running, speeding through the forest even with Natsu's handicaps, though he cursed and muttered between taking breaths to sustain himself.

Gray stared at the back of Natsu's head for several moments, then closed his eyes and rested his forehead on the ice.

The idiot was right, after all - he'd got his ass kicked, but that wasn't anything new. No, he'd lost his fair share of fights - some among friends, some not.

But like any Fairy Tail Mage, there was only one suitable response.

He'd get back up on his feet...and he'd try again.

* * *

 _Declan's POV_

As we were waiting for something to happen, I took the opportunity to start preparing my counter strategy for dealing with the Three Stooges. My first inclination was to just Shinra Tensei the falling goop away from the village - but, that didn't guarantee I'd catch all of it, and it left me with _no_ idea of where the stuff would eventually end up.

Plus, it would straight-up kill the giant rat - and there was a pretty hefty possibility of major injury for its riders. I wasn't above beating the shit out of my opponents, but I was a bit leery of doing anything that might end up being permanent, even with magical healing techniques.

Or at least, I was with these particular opponents - I wasn't sure I could say the same for every enemy we'd encounter.

Still, I had discarded that plan, and set to making another.

When I considered the issues with my first plan, one thing that came to mind was that it actually involved letting the rat get above the village and dump its cargo - something which massively increased the risk to the villagers, to myself and to Lucy.

So, I needed a low-risk, high-effectiveness strategy - and the most obvious thing to do was make sure that the rat never even got the chance to strike.

To accomplish that, I scrounged up as many leftover construction materials - logs, specifically - as I could get my hands on, stacking them all up in the open area behind the gate. Then, I hopped quickly over the wall, and started grabbing hold of trees.

There is a reason that moving trees is generally the purview of heavy machinery on Earth. Even with their weight vastly reduced, their roots can extend for ridiculous distances, intertwining with other plants and other roots, wrapping around stones, digging their way into bedrock, and basically making moving any tree of reasonable age a right royal pain in the arse.

Still, storms accomplish that much all the time, and I already knew I could stand up to those.

Wrapping my arms around the first tree I chose and lifting much as I might have tried with a caber didn't quite work - I could see the earth straining around the plant's base, and I got a couple of inches, but my own strength proved not enough to pull however many roots this tree possessed from their hiding places. It was unsurprising - by the sheer size of these plants, they must have been here for decades, if not centuries.

So, when I tried again, I let my Magic grab a hold of three and give a solid, upward _yank._

This time, the massive plant was set free; trailing roots and clumps of dirt, many of the former snapped instead of being fully exposed.

I carted the tree back inside the walls, then went back for another.

I stockpiled about a dozen before stopping, taking the chance to stand back and appreciate the stacked trunks and pre-worked logs.

As I did so, I absent-mindedly hummed under my breath. "I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay, I sleep all night and I work all day..."

I caught myself a few bars in, coughing into my hand as I wound down. "A time and a place for everything." I reminded myself, reaching out once more, searching for anything that would register to my senses.

My face twisted into a grimace when four sources began to resonate - all elevated, approaching quickly. The bestial presences of Toby and Angelica, one canine and one vermin; a semi-detached, yet interconnected sensation that I applied to Sherry; and one example which was less a feeling in my senses than it was an _absence_ of a feeling - a hole in my perceptions.

It was...rather disorienting.

I opened my eyes quickly, reaching forward and pressing my hands to the pile of ammunition I'd gathered, beginning to rise into the air as I merged their gravitational fields, slaving them to my own.

"Lucy!" I called out, attracting my teammate's attention from where she had been tapping her foot and watching the gate. "They're coming!"

The blonde frowned, perhaps wondering how I had known - but at that moment, one of the villagers looked up, and pointed out a moving patch of starless sky. "What the Hell is _that?!"_

Lucy looked up sharply, as did the rest of the village - I continued to rise up, feeling my mouth twist into a slight scowl as I started separating out my projectiles, my focus splitting between each of them while at the same time retaining the concentration I needed to remain in the air and avoid any return fire from Ponce.

I could hear the expressions of disbelief below me; frankly, if I wasn't so busy locking and loading, I'd probably have been off on a tangent of my own about a _giant mouse using its tail to fly like a helicopter._

But, thankfully for my combat effectiveness, I wasn't able to pay enough attention to the specifics of the situation to start ranting.

Instead, I brought the first of the pre-prepared logs in front of me, sighted down it, and launched it through a gravity corridor.

It rocketed away from me like a blunted javelin, crossing the intervening space to my target far faster than anything but magic could ever have propelled it...and flew through the space between the mouse and the bucket.

I frowned; perhaps I should have practised this first.

I lined up another log, took aim and fired - this time it was on target, but a flare of blue light met the projectile, and though it penetrated several inches, it wasn't enough to reach the mouse's body, and the projectile simply fell from the air once the blue light faded.

My eyes narrowed, and I brought up another log. This time, I unbalanced the field holding it intentionally, setting it into a rotation like a drill, before accelerating it as much as I could and releasing it, my aim corrected to account for the mouse's forward motion.

The blue light flared once more, Ponce's anti-magic field offering a degree of physical repulsion as well, but I was satisfied to see that the spin I'd put on the log let it dig through until it actually made contact with its target - though admittedly, it probably barely even made a bruise.

One way or another, Angelica yelled its displeasure - as did a feminine, human voice from atop it.

I suddenly recalled how Sherry had brought a tree to life to serve as an attacker for her during her bout with Lucy - and all of a sudden, it seemed like a very good idea to get these logs the hell away from me.

At the same time, blue light started flashing from atop the mouse, then detaching and coursing forward. Ponce's anti-magic attacks - they'd likely knock me arse-over-teakettle out of the sky if they connected.

I flew up, giving up micro-managing the logs in favour of forming two groups, one to each of my sides, and dragging them with me as I evaded the return fire.

Spheres, pulses and rays of the blue light pursued me, and I started humming the Star Wars theme under my breath as I flipped forward, turning my ascension into a dive and buying myself several seconds of time for manoeuvring as Ponce had to correct his aim.

The two groups of logs became my focus again in those few seconds, as I re-organised the shape, feeling a headache coming on as I held my concentration on so many things at once. Where they had been consolidated groups, like flying lumber piles, they now more resembled walls as they were placed side-by-side. Walls...or, in the case of my flight, wings.

I reached and passed the mouse's altitude, passing almost close enough to see the enraged faces of my opponents, and I felt another flare of magic - something apart from the strange null-magic pulses that Ponce was firing off all over the place.

I could feel the natural gravity of one of the logs I was using start to change, mutating as its form was twisted into something else by Sherry's magic. As the one on my immediate right, had I continued my manoeuvrers with it held in place, it might well have managed to get a hold of me. In fact, in order to be certain of my safety, Sherry likely expected me to release that entire wing - perhaps even both, now that she had demonstrated her Magic.

Well, she wasn't _wrong,_ per-say - but I wasn't just going to cut my ammunition loose.

I think she realised that, judging by the horrified yell that came just before I pulled up, accelerating with two several-metre-wingspan blockades of wood at my shoulders, and then flew straight through the gap between the mouse's arms.

There was an incredibly loud, pained yell from the creature as the logs collided with its limbs like battering rams, and it immediately dropped the bucket - which tipped in mid-air, spilling its cargo to the uninhabited forest floor below, falling with a clatter as the earth and plants began to dissolve around the landing area.

As I'd passed by, I released my right 'wing', allowing Sherry's Doll to fall away from me toward the forest floor, reaching impotently up for me with a snarl twisting its basic features.

Probably the same sneer its mistress was wearing right about then.

I had probably somewhere around a dozen logs remaining, though only three of them were trees - I'd not been particularly balanced with my distribution when I began my manoeuvrers.

Once I appeared in the trio's field of vision once more, the sky came alive with blue light - I had to imagine that Ponce was getting an earful right about then, and was probably willing to kill me just so that Sherry would stop yelling at him.

Maybe if I got lucky she'd get pissed off enough at her comrades to toss them off the mouse...but somehow, I doubted it.

I accelerated upward quickly, banking on speed and the constant change in his firing angle to keep Ponce's attacks away from me as I once more began micro-managing my floating woodpile - this time, separating and rotating them, then securing them, until I had what was effectively a stupidly long wooden club as the pre-prepared logs were all stuck end-to-end, with the much less wieldy trees anchored near the head, giving the vague resemblance of a mace.

The weapon trailed behind me, as even with its weight reduced the leaves on the trees were catching a great deal of air, and I reached out to grab the end I'd designated the 'handle', wrapping both hands around it.

I stopped going upward, noting as I did so that I was well past the altitude of the island's hill, re-orienting myself downwards as if I had just topped an arc.

I picked out the giant mouse below me; blue light was no longer flaring on its back, so I supposed that Ponce had either lost sight of me, or I'd left his range - maybe even both; I couldn't be easy to pick out against the sky.

Although, my giant tree-mace was probably a touch more noticeable.

I began to dive, dragging the unwieldy weapon in my wake as I fell faster than gravity would normally allow for, shifting my grip on the club so as to be holding it over my shoulder.

The mouse grew larger quickly, and blue lights once more began to streak away from it as I started closing the distance. These were more conical, I noted - I had to start twisting my body in order to get extra manoeuvring thrust from the air rushing past in order to evade them, and even as I did so, I could only move so much - I had to remain on target, meaning my options were limited.

I felt a sudden shudder run through the field I was maintaining around my cobbled-together weapon, as I came too close to a blue flash - one of the trees secured around the central pillar of the logs had shorn away, the anti-magic technique doing its work.

I kept diving, drawing closer and closer, still accelerating, barely thinking any more - my every consideration was a reaction to an incoming attack.

At a hundred metres, I felt another tree go.

At fifty metres, I couldn't dodge and keep on target - the anti-magic washed over me, leaving me and my ammunition in an unnaturally fast, yet uncontrolled, free-fall.

At twenty-five metres, I smiled like a lunatic when I realised my theory was correct - Ponce only stopped _active_ Magic; my ability to perform it when the blast had passed was unaffected, and the physical force of his blasts wasn't nearly enough to halt the speed of my fall.

At ten metres, my magical power flared, the disassociated components of my weapon all snapped back into place again, and I suddenly switched to accelerating straight _up_ \- still holding the handle of my weapon - while the wooden construct kept going _down_.

The reaction was that the entire thing flipped _hard_ , the head swinging down as the handle went up...

And in the process, passing through the space where the three stooges and their mount were hovering.

I could feel the blue light that Ponce produced through the weapon; it was rather like hitting a sponge with a baseball bat.

It had about the same reaction, too.

I looked down at the crater in the ground where the giant mouse had crashed down, my ammunition falling to the ground around it - the entire weapon had come apart when I used it to strike Ponce's shield, even if it had still done its job.

The magical signatures of the Mages were still there, and still conscious if I was any judge - though, I _still_ couldn't feel Natsu and Gray.

As I began making my way back to the village, nursing a major headache and mentally preparing for the next clash, I wondered what the Hell was taking them so long.

* * *

 _Elsewhere..._

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"

Natsu's outraged yell was accompanied by a low groan from Gray, who was once more lying on the forest floor. Mere seconds before, something had happened that seemed to shake the entire island - since Natsu had been waddle-running at the time, the icy marble of a Dragon Slayer had immediately fallen over on his front and gone rolling, steamrolling his passenger more than once in the process, and was now flailing his limbs like a beetle as he tried to get off his back.

Happy drifted back down from where he'd flown once the island started shaking - carrying the shark, of course. A cat had to have his priorities straight.

"It was that big mouse!" He declared, having carefully nested the shark in the canopy of a nearby tree for safekeeping before dropping down beside the two Mages. "It was flying, and then a bunch of trees fell on it!"

Gray stared in pained incomprehension, but Natsu just yelled louder, light once more pouring from his mouth. "DAMMIT! DECLAN AND LUCY ARE DOING ALL THE FIGHTING WHILE WE'RE STUCK OUT HERE!"

He continued to loudly proclaim just how unfair that was, at one point actually getting angry enough to breath a concentrated burst of fire - and as fate would have it, that blaze reached the foot of the tree in which Happy had stored the shark.

It just so happened that Happy's particular choice of tree was considerably younger than others about that area, and thus had a less well-developed root system. The instability this caused had only been worsened by the earthquake which had shaken Galuna, and with the burst of flames, the roots gave up the ghost and snapped, almost as one.

This might not have been particularly noticeable, seeing as the tree was held just tightly enough by its neighbours and was just balanced not to begin slipping, or at least not until the next big wind came through...

But of course, the several-foot-long aquatic killing machine in its branches rather skewed the equation.

Natsu was still yelling when the tree fell on him.

* * *

 _Declan's POV_

Lucy and I stood in front of the village gates and looked outward, into the forest, toward the area where Angelica had impacted.

My teammate was toying with the keyring on her belt, chewing her bottom lip as she anxiously awaited our opponents. I was more composed - being the more used to combat, and having considerable experience of being on both ends of an ass-kicking, my only concession to my nerves was to drum a beat on one of my biceps as I folded my arms.

"Where the hell are they hiring minions from these days?" I wondered aloud, ignoring the instinctive voice that tries to enforce silence during tense moments. "I mean, we've been standing here for, like, ten minutes - didn't anyone ever teach these jokers about punctuality?"

I heard an aborted giggle from beside me, and grinned a bit - it didn't do Lucy any good to get all wound up.

"It's rather unprofessional of them," Lucy commented, picking up the joke. "What kind of person leaves a lady waiting?"

"And a princess, at that." I added, leading the Celestial Spirit Mage to wack me on the shoulder.

"I still can't believe you said that to Virgo." She scolded, running her fingers over the Key of the Maiden almost subconsciously. "What if she starts trying to talk people into being servants?"

I chuckled at the thought, before glancing sideways at Lucy. "Well, if they accept, it just shows good taste - and if they don't, it's no real skin off anyone's nose."

The blonde huffed, flushing a bit red as she shot a weak glare at me. "If you keep up all this backtalk, I must just have to get Virgo to punish you, _sir knight."_

I blanched momentarily, before returning her look with a challenge and a false pout. "Are you sure you won't do it yourself, princess?"

The blonde turned an even brighter shade of red, abruptly waving her hands through the air. "Please, don't you start too! Between you two, it's a wonder the whole village hasn't gotten the wrong impression!" She heaved a sigh, slumping slightly. "I don't even want to imagine what Natsu and Happy would be like if they heard..."

I chuckled again, turning my eyes back to the forest and focussing, trying to part the shadows with force of will alone.

It didn't work, although I made a mental note to see if there was some kind of easy light-producing Magic...actually, I recalled that Makarov was said to have skill with lots of different Magics besides his Titan Magic and Fairy Magic - including Fire. It might be worth asking him if he'd be willing to teach me a few tricks that could come in handy.

I shelved the thought though, since I felt three magical signatures breach the outer limit of my sensing abilities. "Lucy." I spoke up, drawing her attention with my switch to a more professional tone. "They're coming, fast."

"Right." She muttered, selecting a key from the ring and drawing it, while her other hand hovered near the bullwhip coiled on her opposite hip.

I just cracked my neck, magical power circulating around my body as I waited for the stooges.

They arrived not a minute later, the sounds of their approach easily discernible in the quiet night air. When they finally burst from the treeline, they all came to a skidding halt, several metres away from where my teammate and I stood ready.

There were several tense seconds of stare-off, while both sides sized each other up. I moved my gaze over Ponce, Toby and then Sherry, noting that the latter's eyes were an angry red at the moment, and her fingers were twitching. _'Yep - Yandere. Called it.'_

" _You..._ " She hissed, glaring at me with a discomfiting laser-focus. "You're the one who hurt my beloved Angelica, and caused me to fail Lord Reitei!"

I blinked at her, feigning momentary confusion. "Angelica? What, was there another one of you on that ugly rat I smashed?"

Sherry growled low in her throat, her eyes seeming to bulge from her skull. "ANGELICA WAS NOT A RAT!" She screeched, fingers twitching as if they were already fastened around my neck. "SHE WAS A BEAUTIFUL, GALLANT HUNTER IN THE DARKNESS!" She paused for a moment. "AND LOVE!"

I stared back at her for a few moments before speaking again - I could just see Lucy making frantic gestures in the corner of my eye that were probably meant to stop me from antagonising the Mages who were going to try and kill the villagers.

I made a note to teach my teammate about the joys of driving one's opponents up the wall and across the ceiling at another date, then shook my head. "Nah - I'm pretty sure it was a rat."

Sherry began vibrating on the spot, while I rubbed the back of my head with one hand. "Besides, a 'beautiful, gallant hunter'? You know rats are scavengers, right? Plus...news-flash, dressing something up in a pink waistcoat doesn't make it 'beautiful'; it's just disturbing."

There were several seconds of silence, during which Sherry ceased to move at all, before Ponce let out a long sigh. "Well, that's torn it."

An ungodly, banshee-esque wail of indescribable rage tore its way free of Sherry's throat, and a tree behind her abruptly began to mutate, branches becoming arms, roots becoming legs, a mouth and eyes ripping open in the trunk as the Tree Doll added its own roar to the cacophony.

I stared at it for a couple of seconds, then placed one hand on Lucy's shoulder, getting her attention as I managed to channel my now-active adrenaline high into forming a smile. "Well Lucy, I'd love to stick around, but as you know it's forbidden for a knight such as myself to strike a lady. So, I leave this in your most capable hands."

I patted her shoulder a couple of times while she was processing that, then turned around to face Toby and Ponce - the former looking pissed off, the latter somewhere between sardonic amusement and plain irritation. "In the meantime, we're gonna give you ladies some privacy. Have fun!"

With that, I abruptly shot off toward the male contingent of the stooges, prompting Toby to unsheathe his poison-green claws, while blue light started to build up around Ponce's hands...

Which proved useless, as I jumped into the air and shot right past them, instead of going for a tackle as I'd been telegraphing.

I heard them both begin to curse, then abruptly yell instead, as the tailwind I'd generated through forming an overlarge gravity corridor smacked into them in the form of a shockwave that knocked them off their feet and carried them into the forest behind me, bouncing every now and again as they tried to get their bearings.

I was probably already fifty metres away when Lucy's yell of "DECLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" reached me.

 _'I am_ not _looking forward to the conversation we'll be having when I get back...maybe I can just put it off until I can distract her with Sagittarius' key?'_

I considered for a few moments...then sagged a bit, even as I kept myself on track for Angelica's landing point, wanting a somewhat level area before I engaged the two Mages in my jetstream.

 _'Oh, who am I kidding - I'm gonna get Lucy-Kicked for sure.'_

Man, the things I did in the name of helping my teammates grow... Still, I knew that Lucy would be fine; she was intelligent enough and powerful enough to overcome Sherry, particularly when the latter was enraged past the point of all reason. My teammate would earn more confidence in herself, this way, and would hopefully forgive me at some point in the future.

The very, very distant future.

 _'...Maybe I should consider moving my apartment.'_

My thoughts were finally interrupted when there was a bright flash of blue light behind me, the luminescence passing over me in a wave that sent me abruptly from powered-flight to falling-with-no-style. I managed to roll with the worst of the landing, though I bounced a couple of times and picked up my fair share of new bruises from rolling over stones and branches before I fetched up against a tree.

I shook my head, ridding it of the invading cotton-wool sensation as I got to my feet, looking back over the way I'd come while making sure all my limbs were still moving properly.

Ponce and Toby seemed to have ended up in largely the same state as I had, and were picking themselves up from the ground with angry mutterings. They focussed on me quickly, with the blue-haired of the two drawing himself into a parade rest stance while the other just immediately re-deployed his claws and growled. "That was a rather clever tactic." Ponce noted, absently reaching up to brush some foliage from his shoulder. "Initiating your attack with the side-effects of your Magic rather than the Magic itself, therefore keeping us off-balance enough to use your Magic on us without me being able to disrupt it straight away..."

He inclined his head a bit. "It would seem that Fairy Tail Mages are as resourceful as people say."

"Hmph." I inclined my own head a bit. "Thanks for the compliment; I had to play it smart, though, to get around that Surge Magic of yours."

"Ah, so you know of my abilities." Ponce noted. "So then, you know who I am?"

"Of course!" I declared. "Both you and the dog boy-"

I paused, waiting for Toby's shouting to die down before continuing. "- are former members of the Guild Lamia Scale; Toby with his paralysing claws, and you, with your ability to nullify any Magic."

Ponce twitched a bit. "You...don't know my name, do you?"

There was quiet in the forest for a few moments, before I scratched my head again. "It's...uh...Ponce, isn't it?"

More quiet. Then, the anti-Mage shook his head. "No...no, it isn't. What kind of name is Ponce, anyway?" He shook his head again, clearing his throat. "No - my name is Yuka the Surge. Now, what is _your_ name? I do not recognise you; strange, as I am almost sure I'd have heard of an Air Mage of your proficiency operating in Fiore. Yet, when last I heard, there were only the Sky Sorceress and 'Shinigami' Eligor..."

He narrowed his eyes. "There is the possibility that Ren Akatsuki grew more skilled in the last three years...but no, he'd never be here without his teammates."

The Anti-Mage's massive eyebrow twitched, and I could hear his teeth grinding from across the intervening space. "He'd never have made it this long without commenting on my eyebrows, either..."

 _'...I have no idea why, but I think I felt a chill when he mentioned 'teammates'.'_ My eyebrow twitched. _'Besides that, what the hell? I was sure he would blow his top there...'_

Did he just have really thick skin? No - that couldn't be it; he hadn't even _acknowledged_ the insult...

 _'Wait...does the word 'ponce' just...not exist here?'_

I blinked a couple of times. _'Huh. Well, that's...interesting. Haven't had that happen before.'_

Shaking off my thoughts, I cleared my throat, as if the reason I'd remained silent were a blockage of some kind. "My name is Declan Ross." I told him, at the same time ramping up my magical power, causing the usual detritus of the forest floor to begin rising up around me as Yuka (the insult wasn't worth it if he didn't even recognise it) began to glow blue.

"Well then, Declan Ross," Yuka declared, bringing his arms around to point toward me as his blue Surge Magic focussed there. "Let's see what you can do!"

Cones of blue energy erupted forward from his hands and I hurled myself sideways, rolling into a run as swathes of light began to follow my progress, blasting corridors in the foliage I'd just passed, nipping at my heels. After one came particularly close, I threw myself forward onto my hands and pushed off, shooting backward into the sky as Surge magic consumed the area I'd just occupied.

I landed sideways on the tree beside me, and when I looked back at Yuka, I could see a certain level of respect in his eyes - respect I might indeed have earned if I was an Air Mage, since manipulating air currents in a precise enough fashion to cause powered flight was a badge of progress among users of that style.

Of course, since I was a Gravity Mage, flight wasn't anywhere near such a big deal - it was really just a matter of balance. Of course, if I started flying like Superman rather than a thrown brick, _that_ might be worth talking about...

The moment passed, and I kicked forward off the trunk as my thoughts kept running. _'Everyone always thinks I'm an Air Mage...'_ I mused, even as I reached a new branch and pushed myself off in seconds, narrowly evading another explosion of blue light. _'Ah, well - better than being called 'Anchor'.'_

I kept hopping between trees, changing elevation and orientation often enough to force Yuka's entire concentration onto tracking me, while I idly remembered that I'd never asked Buggy about that nickname.

I resolved to send him a letter at some point, before coming back to the first tree I'd rested on - one which was teetering precariously from the blast it had taken previously, as if it had been in a high storm.

This time, I crouched near the foot, and only skipped sideways to evade the blast of Surge magic which finished the job of uprooting it, reaching for the falling trunk with my left hand. **"Bansho Ten'in!"**

The wood connected with my palm, and I whipped my whole body around, bringing the tree with me. _'I should thank him for clearing this area,'_ I thought to myself. _'I'd never have been able to swing this otherwise, not with all the other trees in the way.'_

As it was, though, more than a tonne of hardy wood was rapidly approaching the Anti-Mage, whose eyes had widened enough to raise his eyebrows into his hairline.

 **"SURGE!"** He yelled, bringing both hands forward and bracing himself as my impromptu weapon reached him, his Magic providing a shielding force and at the same time dispelling the magical power I was running through the tree to render it weightless.

Unfortunately, he hadn't quite accounted for that little wonder of the universe we physics types like to call 'Momentum'.

That was, after all, a rather substantial mass moving at quite a substantial velocity - and that didn't change, even with gravity returning to normal.

Yuka went bouncing across the forest floor like a stone across water, crashing through foliage and at least one tree on the way, before finally coming to rest about a metre above the ground, imprinted in the wood of one particular aged specimen.

There was a long moment of silence, before the anti-Mage gave a long groan and pitched forward on his face, leaving behind a crater in the wood and lying still.

I let out a long breath and dusted off my hands, looking around idly.

This part of the forest, which had formerly been as lush as anywhere else on the island, was totalled. While I'd been staying one step ahead of Yuka's aim by constantly changing my trajectories and never letting him guess where I was going to end up, he'd torn holes in the ground, broken trees in half, uprooted others, stripped away leaves, devastated bushes, and probably driven off any wildlife with a survival instinct.

His attempt to block my swing had wrecked the tree I was using too; its upper third seemed to have shattered or been blown clean off, while the remainder had fallen heavily enough to bury itself in the soil.

I looked over the clearing, to where Toby was staring after his teammate. Then, the dog-man turned back toward me, and met my eyes.

"So, you've defeated Yuka!" He declared, extending his arms to his sides. "That doesn't change anything - I'm even stronger than him! With these claws, I'll-"

"Paralyse me with a single strike?" I asked, interrupting him. The dog-man blinked several times rapidly, and I continued on while he was off-balance. "I mean, I've heard people talk about those claws of yours - rather impressive, they all said."

The Mage preened for a moment, and I took on an air of consideration, stroking my chin while supporting that arm's elbow with my other hand. "But, I don't know - can they really be that great?"

"OF COURSE THEY CAN!" The dog-man yelled, brandishing the weapons as if to prove the point.

I hummed. "Well...maybe you could show me they work? Just so I can say for sure if anyone else asks?"

"Of course!" The Mage replied. "You want a demonstration?"

"Sure, that sounds good." I nodded. "Could you...I dunno...just poke yourself in the hand there?"

"That's fine!" Toby declared, moving his left hand to do exactly that...before his head suddenly jerked up, and he glared at me. "WAIT, YOU'RE TRYING TO TRICK ME!"

 **"Shinra Tensei."**

The blast of gravitational repulsion knocked Toby off his feet, while at the same time driving the nails of his left hand - still hovering above his right palm - into his flesh, resulting in the Mage's electrocution via his own weapon.

I stared at the smoking, twitching form of the Lamia Scale member, before shaking my head and sighing. "Seriously...where do bad guys _get_ minions like these? Fiore's mook education system could learn a thing or two from _Gotham_."

With that, I set about dragging Yuka and Toby together in the middle of the new clearing, where I stood up the partially-wrecked tree trunk I'd used for a weapon and drove it solidly into the ground, sinking a good half metre of it into the soil. Then, I sat a Mage on either side of it, before wrapping several vines around them, tying the material as best I knew how before stepping back to admire my handiwork.

"Now let's see you free that Demon." I muttered to myself, before turning back toward the trail of disrupted foliage that I knew represented the path back to the village, and lifting off the ground to fly back in that direction.

"Now, time to see how Lucy's doing. I wonder if the others have managed to get back yet..."

* * *

 _Back at the Village..._

"DAMMIT DECLAN, YOU COULD HAVE LEFT A FIGHT FOR ME YOU BASTARD!"


	11. X - Collapse

_"LUCY KICK!"_

 _'...Well,'_ I thought to myself, as I tried to remember which way was up, what my name was, and why I could taste dirt. _'That went about as well as I expected.'_

Having made my way to the shore, following the shining, golden presence of Lucy's Magic, I found my teammate leaning on a tree, breathing heavily and apparently completely unable to focus her eyes properly. She bore some scratches, and a few bruises - but otherwise, she seemed fine. Some distance away from her was Sherry, laid out on the sand with a throbbing red fist-imprint on one cheek, totally out of it.

I had promptly wrapped Lucy in my duster until such a time as she could put on another shirt, since hers had apparently been lost at some point in the confrontation. That done, I led the dizzy Mage back to the village, keeping her upright as her inner ear started to stabilise, her mind re-booting after its Aquarius-facilitated trip through the washing machine.

Once we reached the village, we met up with Natsu and Happy. The Dragon Slayer had broken out of the ice sphere somehow (he declined to share the exact circumstances), and brought Gray back, passing him over to the villagers to recover from getting himself beaten up.

He had also stated, quite firmly, that I was buying him dinner when we got back home - when I saw the shark that two villagers were dragging into the house he and Gray had slept in the previous night, I decided that I probably didn't want to push the issue.

Sometime during that conversation with Natsu though, Lucy had apparently regained enough of her senses to remember the exact circumstances leading to the ordeal she'd just gone through. My first warning was a low, growling voice hissing my name past gritted teeth.

I didn't get a second warning, so much as I got kicked in the head.

 _'Note to self:'_ I considered, lying face-down in the dirt, having skidded several metres by my reckoning. _'Apparently Lucy is capable of performing a kick to the head without a running start, at point-blank range, and without jumping. Again: I_ love _Magic.'_

Well, that was assuming that Magic was augmenting Lucy's natural physicality, because I might not have been a biologist but I was still fairly sure that Mother Nature would have called bullshit somewhere along that line of evolution.

I pushed myself back to my feet with a certain degree of effort, spitting out a mouth-full of leaves and mud that I spent a full minute coughing and spitting to get rid of. That done (around the corner of a nearby house, although I felt that the noise alone was probably rather unpleasant for anyone else to listen to), I came back around to follow the furrow I'd dug in the ground to where Lucy was standing, arms crossed and glaring, still wearing my duster.

 _'I swear, she wears that thing almost as often as I do.'_

It was a bit ridiculous on her; Lucy was almost half a foot shorter than I was, and although her torso was...deeper...than mine, I was wider across the shoulders and in the arm. Thus, the hem of the coat fell to the same height as the hem of her skirt, and her hands only protruded from the sleeves because she had rolled them up.

She looked...well, adorable was the wrong word. Cute was a much better fit.

I kept my thoughts on the matter off my face, though - after all, she had every right to be angry at me, and if I just started going ga-ga over her appearance rather than listening to her, it would just piss her off more.

" _Why?_ " She asked simply, one foot tapping, eyes boring into my own as if she could see right through me.

On the off chance that she could, in fact, do that very thing, I chose to simply be honest. "Because I trust you, Lucy."

A raised eyebrow on her part prompted me to continue, so I did. "I knew you could handle her, and I didn't want us to end up in a two-on-three; I didn't know if they had any particular experience working together, so they might have been a more credible threat as a group than any of them were as individuals. So, since I knew you could handle her, I got the other two out of there to give you space."

The blonde narrowed her eyes. "That's not all though, is it?"

I shifted a bit, rather uncomfortable under her continued glare, before letting out a sigh. "It's just...well, you know that Natsu, Gray and I are all fighters?" Her eyes narrowed further, and I hurriedly continued my explanation. "Well, the three of us all have a good amount of combat experience - but you still have less than we do, which isn't me saying you're weak!" I almost-shouted, raising my hands as Lucy's glare seemed ready to set me aflame even over a two-metre divide. "I know you're not - I just thought that, if I was hovering over your shoulder every time we got in a fight, you wouldn't get the chance to reach your potential."

Several seconds passed, and I lowered my hands cautiously when I didn't hear charging footsteps or feel my skin beginning to blister. I promptly discovered that Lucy had closed the distance between us, her narrowed eyes scanning my own for something - though I had no idea _what_ , exactly, from only inches away.

One way or another, she seemed at least partially satisfied, as she reached up and around to whack the back of my head - though without putting any real force behind it. "Well, I suppose I can't argue with that." She grumbled, leaning forward again and prompting me to lean back. "But if you're going to be trying to give _me_ learning opportunities, you _will_ be letting me return the favour."

I blinked a couple of times, a feeling of dread settling in my stomach as my teammate's eyes took on a disturbing gleam. "...How so?"

"I might be the one with the least combat experience, but _you-"_ she poked me in the chest, and I resisted the urge to jump back and start hissing like my cat used to, "have the least _social_ experience." My sinking feeling grew worse, and the blonde grinned triumphantly. "So, when we get back home, prepare for the Lucy Learning Experience - I promised I'd cure that shyness of yours, after all!"

My stomach hit rock bottom, and as a Gravity Mage, I felt I was qualified to say that the heavy feeling was about two steps from turning me into a singularity.

Not just because I was going to have to interact with - _shudder_ \- _people_...but because Natsu was still standing off to the side.

And he was _grinning._

 _'...I wonder, is it wrong of me that I'm suddenly glad we'll be facing Phantom Lord when we get back to Magnolia?'_ I wondered, standing up straight once Lucy had stopped leaning toward me, the blonde heading into the house Natsu and Gray were sleeping in, presumably to find herself another shirt.

"WHY IS THERE A SHARK IN HERE?!"

* * *

With Lucy fully dressed once more, and Natsu's shark wrapped in leaves taken from the canopies around the town to prevent spoiling and to blunt the smell, the three of us plus Happy sat down to fill each other in on our experiences.

I described my showdown with Yuka and Toby, Natsu gave a quick recounting of his journey from the sea, to the hill and then back to the village, while Lucy explained how Sherry had taken control of her Celestial Spirits - only to seal her own fate when she tried to put Aquarius under her control, resulting in the Spirit attacking both Mages and Lucy gaining the opportunity to lay out the other woman with a mean right hook.

"So, I left Yuka and Toby tied up in the forest," I noted, raising two fingers on one of my hands. "Lucy KO'd Sherry down on the beach, that damn mouse is either dead or catatonic. That leaves Lyon, the cultists and the other guy."

The other two Mages in the room turned to me, giving me strange looks. "Other guy? Declan, what 'other guy'?"

I blinked a few times, then bit my lip and cursed internally. _'Fuck - I forgot, Ultear only made her appearance after Natsu wrecked the temple. Alright Ross, how can you play this off...'_

"Um..." I glanced between my teammates, Lucy narrowing her gaze at me once more.

"Declan...is there something you aren't telling us?"

I rubbed the back of my head with one hand, closing my eyes so they couldn't give me away. "I...don't think so?" _'Come on, come on, think, think, THINK - AH, that mighty work.'_

"I mean...I mentioned that I'm a Magic Sensor, right?"

Lucy and Natsu both blinked several times, glancing at one another and then shaking their heads in tandem before looking back. "No...no, you didn't," Lucy sighed. "So you can sense Magic...well, that explains how no-one ever seems to sneak up on you..." She looked up, narrowing her eyes again. "That's how you knew Everlue was spying on us back in Shirotsume as well, isn't it?"

I nodded, and the blonde folded her arms. "Why didn't you mention this earlier? The ability to accurately sense Magic is usually an advanced skill; the people with a natural talent for it tend to be the ones with very little magical power of their own, too."

I ducked my head a bit. "You...never asked?" The warning glare Lucy shot at me prompted a raising of my hands in surrender, and I sighed. "I just...don't like talking about myself, alright? It's just the way I am."

Lucy's glare softened, and she huffed out a breath. "You're even more shy than I thought, aren't you?" I glared right back at her, but the Celestial Spirit Mage just smiled it off. "Oh well - I'll get to know you properly soon enough, Declan; just you wait."

I very carefully did _not_ shudder, and instead decided that a topic change was the better part of valour. "Anyway, there _was_ someone else there." I told them, bringing Lucy's attention away from her decision to 'draw me out of my shell' - and distracting Natsu from where his grin was threatening to reach all the way a round to the back of his head and tie itself in a knot.

"They were powerful; on the same level as Lyon, if not more." I was basically making this up - I hadn't actually felt Ultear's presence, and that worried me. Mostly because I knew that she was on the Magic Council, and that she was at _least_ S-Ranked; which meant that if I couldn't sense her presence, she was capable of actively hiding herself from Magic Sensors like me, and that she _was_ doing so at the moment.

So, either she knew about my abilities and my presence, and thus was actively hiding herself...or she _was always concealing herself._

I didn't know which idea scared me more - the idea that I was already known to her and Jellal, or the idea that Ultear had such perfect control of her abilities that, despite her immense magical power, she could erase her presence without even really paying attention.

Well, either way, I knew that she wasn't going to go all-out here unless I somehow threw things _way_ out of alignment - and I wasn't planning on doing so, for the almost singular reason that I had _no_ desire to face down Ultear at her full power, not even with Gray, Natsu, Lucy _and_ Erza on my side. Not yet, at any rate.

Which reminded me that Erza was probably on the island by now - in fact, it was likely she had been for a while; she would have set out not long after Gray, if Makarov had gone along with the plan I'd put forward to him. The fact that she hadn't stepped in yet probably meant that we were doing an okay job though, so I decided I shouldn't be worrying about her at the moment.

"Their signature was...old, but new at the same time. Looping between the two." I was actually just imagining what it would probably be like, but I didn't want to just straight-up say 'She uses Time Magic' - after all, I could identify the various types of Magic our opponents used _now_ , but once we passed the Fantasia Parade, I would only be able to make educated guesses - and if my sensing suddenly dropped in quality, it could raise awkward questions.

Regardless of Lucy's determination, I felt that it would be best for all concerned if my history remained just that - history, and of little interest to the present.

"Old but new...?" Lucy muttered, cupping her chin for a moment before huffing, sitting back in her chair. "Well, at least we know they're there - they won't be such a surprise that way."

Natsu was grinning, cracking his knuckles happily. "Hehehe...so, you guys _didn't_ take all the fights! Alright, let's go up there and start tracking those guys down so we can beat them up and free the villagers!"

Lucy and I glanced at one another, and I looked over at the Dragon Slayer. "And what about Gray?"

Natsu started for a moment, then let out a hum, sinking into his chair much as Lucy had. "Yeah...I guess we should wait 'till he's up and about again. That way, he'll have to admit I've beaten him when I go right through that Lyon guy!"

I sighed at the reasoning, but Lucy seemed to find it amusing. "Oh?" She hummed, smirking at the Dragon Slayer from her seat. "Go through him? The same Mage who turned you into a snowball?"

I snorted as the blonde chuckled to herself, Natsu glaring at both of us and folding his arms defiantly. "He just caught me off guard!" He declared, wisps of amber flame curling out from between his lips. "In a straight fight, I'll beat him for sure!"

"If you say so, Natsu." I placated him, levering myself out of my seat and heading for the door. "I'm gonna check on Gray again, then I'll turn in - you guys might wanna do the same; we'll go after Lyon and his buddies again as soon as Gray's up."

Closing the door to the building behind me, I headed down the road - heading for the another house a little ways down, where one of the villagers had offered to look after the Ice Mage for the night.

I knocked on the door, and a few moments later the demon/woman - demon woman? - pulled it open. She had green skin, two small fangs protruding over her upper lip and relatively short purple horns curving up from above her pointed ears. She gave me a quick smile and a nod - the villagers were all quite pleased that we'd fended off the Mages coming after their village - before letting me in, leading me quickly to where Gray was resting, several blankets being used as a mattress over the usual wooden mat, with bandages wrapped around his middle and over his shoulder and more blankets forming a pillow.

I nodded to the woman (it felt like the most fitting description; she acted like one and she had the basic physiology, no matter her other traits), and she returned the gesture before heading off somewhere - leaving me and the Ice Mage be.

I looked down at the other teen for several long moments, regarding him without speaking, as his chest continued to rise and fall. Soon enough though, I broke the quiet. "Has Natsu already chewed you out for letting yourself get your ass kicked?"

Silence reigned again for several moments longer before the Mage grunted, his eyes remaining closed. "Yeah - the damn flame-brain yelled at me then started running like an idiot." His eyes opened, the dark orbs looking up at me. "Are you thinking of doing it again? 'Cause if you do, I _will_ kick your ass."

I chuckled, shaking my head. "Nah - I get that Natsu has some leeway, but I'm not in any position to be telling you off." I huffed out a breath. "I just wanted to say...you know, I'm not even really sure. I just look at that Lyon guy, and the way he gets to you, and I wonder - 'Why do you let him get under your skin?'."

The Ice Mage opened his mouth, but I waved him off with one hand. "I mean yeah, sure you shoulder at least some of the guilt for your teacher's death - but that guy's dumping it _all_ on you, and you just let him. He goes on about how you shouldn't even be allowed to say her name, but he's spitting on her memory. He's a total bloody hypocrite...and you haven't properly called him on it. You just let him waffle on, getting more depressed and then getting the shit kicked out of you."

The Ice Mage glared up at me. "You going somewhere with this, Ross?"

I shrugged. "I'm not even sure, to be honest. I just felt like maybe you could use a reminder, to go with Natsu's boost - that whatever he says, you _know_ what happened, and you've been making up for it every day since. You've been living the life your teacher saved for you, doing good for the people of Fiore and just being Gray Fullbuster, Mage of Fairy Tail and badass extraordinaire."

I pushed myself to my feet, heading back to the door. "I might not be Ur - I might not even have met her - but I can tell what kind of person she was just by watching you. And I can say...that no matter what Lyon says, I'm sure you're the one she's most proud of."

I reached the door, opening it to step outside, when Gray's voice came from behind me. "Hey, Ross."

I looked back over my shoulder, meeting his eyes in the purple moonlight - his stare appraising, and a melancholy grin on his lips. "I think...that they'd be proud of you too. Whoever they were."

I felt a lump in my throat that seemed to fall down into my stomach, my hand tightening on the doorknob as the Ice Mage turned back to face the ceiling, closing his eyes again. "Now get out of here - I gotta sleep so I can kick Lyon's ass. And once I'm done with him, I'm coming after you - so you'd better be ready."

I took a few moments to unfreeze, relaxing my grip, letting my throat open up once more, the beat of my heart slip back from the ticking of a bomb to the simple drumbeat of life. "Gotcha." I replied, though my voice was quiet and husky. "Get well soon, Gray."

And with that, I closed the door behind me, heading for the house where Lucy and I were sleeping without really seeing, barely cognisant of the world around me as I lay down on the mat, my duster tucked under my head as I descended into the land of dreams, chasing a sprite with sandy hair that I could never seem to hold on to.

* * *

 _Across the curtain..._

Lucy gently lowered the curtain that was acting as the partition between the two 'rooms' in the little house, biting her lower lip as she settled back onto the wooden-mat bed, drawing the blanket up below her chest.

She had opened the window on her side of the building for a few moments, wanting to make sure the place was aired out as it felt a bit stuffy, when Declan had half-emerged from the building where she knew Gray was resting; the window looked out onto the street, and her natural curiosity had prompted her to keep an ear open as she studied her teammate from where she was leaning on the window sill.

She couldn't hear the exact words they'd spoken - but she had seen the way Declan had stiffened abruptly, and she almost imagined she could hear the squeal of the doorknob as it compressed in his grip. When he had closed the door behind him, the teen had walked as if in a daze, not even noticing as she surreptitiously closed the window, or when she lifted the curtain enough to look below it and watch as he used his coat as a pillow without paying any real attention, his eyes a million miles away as he settled down.

Even now, she could hear the rustle of fabric, and slight squeaks of leather - he was moving much more than he had the previous night, his sleep restless.

The more she got to know Declan, the more she wondered if he was really just shy. She knew he had been truthful when he said he didn't like talking about himself, but there had been a certain determination - a grim twist to his mouth and the set of his jaw - that made her think that it wasn't just personal preference that had him holding his tongue.

The Heartfilia heiress (by line of inheritance, if not by choice) frowned, thinking back to everything she knew about Declan Ross.

She knew that he wasn't socially adept; though he seemed perfectly capable of playing word games and pushing people's buttons, even analysing them, he only kept a small social circle, and whenever the conversation turned away from a select few topics (combat or books, really) he seemed to retreat.

She knew that he was intelligent - he had displayed it several times, and the variety of uses he had discovered for his Magic was evidence of his imagination and problem-solving abilities.

She also knew that he was a good person; always willing to lend a hand, though she noticed that he tended to do so more for her than for anyone else she had seen. Then again, they were neighbours and it wasn't like Natsu, Gray or Erza really needed help, so...

That led her to a thought that had a red flush rising in her cheeks - that she was almost certain he was interested in her.

From the day she had met him in Hargeon, Declan had stood with her. From his repulsing of the Vulcan on Mt Hakobe, to his interception of Natsu's idea for the Everlue job (it had been fairly easy to put together - Declan had forgotten the poster for the job when he dragged Natsu out, and she could easily see where Natsu's thoughts could have gone when he noticed the special notice for the job), to his instant defence of her at the gates of the village, Declan had acted in her interest more than she thought he'd acted in his own.

Of course, even if those could all have just been Declan being Declan, the conversation they'd had on the boat, his little comment on the docks and the way he acted during their conversations were more than enough to cement the idea in her head.

Lucy was no stranger to people admiring her looks - she had made use of men's weakness for her form on more than one occasion, and she _knew_ she was pretty. Even among Mages like Erza and Mirajane, she felt she could hold her own in the looks department. But still, the vast majority of the men who had showed such an interest in her had been...well...

She idly glanced over to where she knew Natsu was sleeping, and toward the front gates of the village.

...They had been less than ideal, in more than one respect.

It was seemingly an incredibly rare thing to find a male who _wasn't_ a rampant pervert of some kind, let alone one who shared her interests and could match her thought-for-thought. It wasn't like he was all that bad-looking, either - perhaps he wasn't on the same level as the men in the... _fashion-magazines..._ she had read before, but he was far from ugly, and his physique was up there with any of them.

Or, so she felt - quite literally, as she'd been in contact with it more than once in the past couple of weeks.

It was another point in his favour, she felt - that he'd proven more than once that he had more than self-control than to let his hands wander, or his eyes for that matter. He stole looks occasionally, and she'd noticed that certain habits of hers could break his train of thought for a while - but he always recovered, picking up where he'd left off and not letting it impact too heavily.

There was also his confidence - a trait that she had always looked for. No matter the situation they were in (well, except when she got involved - then, he tended to fold like a house of cards, though she wondered about that; particularly with that day's 'learning opportunity'), Declan always kept his head on straight. He didn't run off like Natsu was prone to do, though he seemed to enjoy the thrill of combat; he didn't have the confrontational self-assurance of Gray either. He was simply...focussed; as if he had devoted too much concentration to the job at hand to ever worry about failing.

These were the things she knew about Declan Ross - but tonight, with this sudden knock to his usual demeanour, she recalled one thing that hadn't really registered to her before:

He never seemed to get angry.

Not even when he was facing Bora or Everlue and the Vanish Brothers; not when he was tossing bricks at Lyon or taunting Sherry. Not even really when they were walking to Hargeon, although she had seen him at least get _irritated_ there.

No - she had never seen him go beyond the point of irritation. Whenever she thought he probably should have been, when Natsu got riled up, Gray started glaring and even she herself started to grit her teeth...

Declan's brow just furrowed a bit, and he kept on going like it was business as usual.

Yes...the more she thought about it, she felt that there were one or two intrinsic pieces of Declan Ross that she was missing, things that would tie together all the other pieces of the puzzle.

And if she happened to start getting closer to him in the name of solving the mystery...well, she didn't think she'd mind very much.

Her cheeks flushed again, as the Celestial Spirit Mage settled down to sleep at last, a small smile curling her lips as she drifted off into pleasant dreams.

* * *

Across the room, though neither of its occupants would know it, the Gravity Mage's restless movements slowed, then halted - and as the night wore on, a tiny smile began to pull at the corners of his lips.

* * *

 _Declan's POV_

The next morning, when Lucy, Natsu, Happy and I were all standing in the street, ready to begin the day, Gray walked out to join us, bandages in place, his expression focussed.

Lucy looked more than a little concerned about him going back into combat so soon after sustaining his injuries, but she held her own council and didn't say anything as we headed out of the gate, in the direction of the temple.

We walked in silence for a few minutes, before I spoke up. "So - what's the plan?"

The others all glanced at me, then back to one another as they considered. Natsu's eyes brightened only moments later, and he rubbed his hands together. "Hehehe...I had a great idea!" He declared, and I gestured for him to share it.

"The moonlight coming through that hole in the temple is what's melting the ice, right?" We all nodded, and the Dragon Slayer grinned, lifting up a clenched fist. "Then it's simple - we stop the moonlight from reaching the secret cavern!"

"Yeah, but how are we gonna do that?" Gray asked, one eyebrow raised.

Natsu's grin widened. "We tilt the temple sideways!"

There were a few seconds of silence while we considered, and I saw Lucy frowning. "Tilt the temple?" She asked, sounding rather disbelieving. "Can we really do that?"

I shrugged, while Natsu kept grinning and a smile slowly made its way across Gray's face. "Shouldn't be too hard," I mused. "If we get into the foundations and wreck half of them, the whole thing'll be skewed as all Hell - we might even demolish the place."

I frowned. "Though, we might have to pay for that..."

I shook my head. "Well, it'll cost more to repay all the damages that'll occur if Deliora gets free - and nothing'll ever make up for the lives it takes." I looked over at Natsu, whose grin widened even further as he punched one fist into the air.

"Alright - a chance to cut loose!"

Gray shook his head as we continued on, while Lucy let out a sigh. "First Kemu Zaleon's missing book, and now an archaeological site that's probably never been investigated properly...are Fairy Tail the enemies of all culture or something?"

I glanced over at our teammates, quite cheerful at the prospect of some wide-scale demolition, then considered the general mayhem and insurance-bankrupting property damage that was the norm when Fairy Tail got involved in a situation.

"...At least we seem to have an appreciation for fine alcohol?"

Judging by the headslap I received, I don't think that was what she wanted to hear.

* * *

Since we were walking in a straight line to the temple, it only took us about half an hour to make our way there from the village. Once we got within viewing distance, Gray, Happy, Lucy and I were treated to the sight of Natsu's 'Ninja Mode', as we kept low and moving fast to get inside the temple without being observed.

Once we were there, it took another hour of searching before we found a staircase leading down - rather than the massive hole in the centre of the hall, that is. Following it down, we emerged on a level full of supporting pillars - the foundations, as had been our target all along.

"Right then," I clapped my hands together, surveying the stone pillars as they rose to the ceiling, probably about twelve feet above us. "Let's get to it, shall we? Remember, start at the end closest to the far wall and then move back - if this place collapses, at least it won't fall on us that way."

""""Right!"""" The team confirmed, before multicoloured light began to fill the space.

Lucy opened Taurus' gate, and the Celestial Spirit brandished his battleaxe, sprinting to the far end of the room before beginning to fell pillars as easily as if they were trees.

Natsu's fists and feet burst into flames before he took off, blazing haymakers and roundhouse-kicks tearing large chunks of stone from the support columns, if they didn't turn them to dust or snap them.

Misty water vapour rose around Gray as he moved, summoning axes, swords, hammers and even a cannon, swinging and firing at each pillar in turn, wrecking each structure with ease.

I myself first laid both my hands on the furthest column from where I'd started, closing my eyes and taking a breath as I isolated the structure from all the other mass around me. When I had a grip on it, I started my 'column of discs' exercise again, breaking down the stone into sand with a tumultuous grinding noise.

Once I had a large, floating sphere of sand, I held it in front of my upraised palms, pointing them at the next column in line and furrowing my brow as I focussed on what I wanted.

 _'Not a sphere...a rectangle. Not a cuboid, not a square or a cube, a rectangle - as thin as a blade, as thin as paper, all compressed down, all controlled, all_ focussed _...'_

Without an object already being present for me to extrapolate from, shaping a gravitational field to certain dimensions was an exercise in fine control and pure willpower. That meant that, at least for now, I wasn't able to do anything fancy; while I might one day be capable of forming any shape I could imagine with any material I could lay hands on, at the moment even doing this much took almost all my focus.

Still, it worked - as I watched through the merest slit of a gap below my eyelid, the rocky sand compressed itself, taking on the appearance of stone once more as it all pressed together, forming a rectangular plane at roughly the thickness of a single grain of sand.

Taking a deep breath, I swiped my hands to the right as if I was swinging a sword, guiding the sand with the gesture, then brought it back around a few inches higher.

There was a moment of pause, as I wondered if the sand hadn't just broken and flowed around the pillar in front of me...

Then I kicked at the section between the two slices I'd made, and the whole thing popped right out, smooth-sanded material showing at the points where it had once been part of the greater whole.

I gave a satisfied nod internally, although I was too focussed at the moment to actualise the gesture. I'd been working to perfect this shaping ability of mine in my spare time, lately - and when it worked, the results were just what I felt I would be needing soon.

Of course, it didn't always work properly - if I lost focus, the entire thing would either fall apart, or it would at least lose its form - making it about as useful as any other cloud of sand.

 _'Better to make use of it while it lasts.'_

Bringing my hands up once more, I let out a long breath - then, launched the blade forwards, spinning like a discus as it shot across the room, passing through the columns in the row I was dealing with, until it reached the end...

Then, it came right back around, a few inches higher, passing through stone as if it wasn't even there before coming to a dead halt in front of my hands, which had been raised to the current level of its flight.

I finally let myself relax, the tightly-compressed blade falling from the air in a loose cloud of stone particles as I walked past it, massaging my temples as I headed back to the staircase we'd all come down.

The others joined me there quickly, all having demolished their areas, and shot questioning looks at me, then at my 'undamaged' pillars. "What gives, Declan?" Natsu asked, glancing at the columns. "Couldn't you break them?"

I shot the Dragon Slayer a raised eyebrow, then shook my head. "Hardly, Natsu." I lifted one hand, aiming along the line of columns and reaching forward with my Magic alone, my fingers tensing slightly as I steadied my breathing. "But _one_ of us needs a sense of dramatic timing."

And with that, I pulled my arm back, intoning **"Bansho Ten'in!"** as I did so.

The detached segments of the pillars, all of which I'd been feeling out with my Magic, shot out of their positions as one - taking with them what little structural support the temple yet possessed.

There was a massive, rumbling _crash_ from above and all around us, and my teammates and I watched as hundreds of tonnes of stone fell in a landslide, burying that side of the room, doing likely irreparable damage to the foundations even beyond what we'd already done.

I smiled to myself, nodding in satisfaction. "Yes... _quite_ nice."

Natsu nodded, smiling too. "I guess I see what you mean - it's kinda cool actually _watching_ when we break stuff. I don't even notice usually!"

Gray nodded and Happy gave an 'Aye!', allowing Lucy and I more than enough time to twitch our eyebrows in sync. _'I decided I was going to curtail these guys' habit of negating the value of their missions in property damage...'_ I moaned internally. _'But it's been barely two weeks, and I'm already doing it consciously!'_

I knew that these were extenuating circumstances, but still, it felt almost like my mission had failed before it began...

 _"You bastards..."_

The cold, harsh voice, coming from above us, drew each of our attention quickly - smiles vanished from faces and were replaced by scowls as Lyon Vastia looked down on us, a harsh glare on his features as his eyes betrayed his fury.

The Mage was standing three or four floors above our position, looking down through empty space which had once been host to several floors. Then again, that was the Fairy Tail Renovation Scheme for you - it tended to take 'ease of access' to a whole new level.

 _"What is the meaning of this?!"_ He demanded, his voice almost shaking with rage, as we started preparing for battle - Lucy going for her keys, Natsu and Gray's respective elements beginning to manifest about them, while I rested one hand each on Lucy and Natsu's shoulders, managing to reach over and snag Gray by routing my own Magic through Natsu's gravitational field, and began the process of lifting us into the air.

We drew level with Lyon fairly quickly, coming to rest on the edge of the hole, the Ice Mage still trying to glare us all into submission as the floor began to ice over around him, the air rapidly becoming inhospitably cold - to Lucy in particular, I noticed, as her choice of wardrobe was, as usual, about as much use for thermal insulation as Swiss cheese was useful for a construction material.

"With the temple tilted like this..." Natsu grinned, although it was far more sinister now, "there's no way for you to shine the moonlight on that Demon."

Lyon's glare worsened, but I wasn't focussed on him - no, my attention was reserved entirely for the figure standing just far enough away from him to not really register in the minds of my teammates...but I had been looking for them.

Ultear - or, in this disguise, 'Zalty' - was a stooped-over, masculine figure dressed in a reddish-brown, loose shirt and dark trousers, beneath a cloak that was grayish-green on the outside, but the same colour as their trousers on the inside. Their hair was a long, forest-green mane running from beneath the mask they wore and down their back like a thick lawn, with two bangs falling down the shoulders. The mask itself was red and yellow primarily, with a blue symbol on the forehead like a hollow diamond, and four white horns protruding from it - one from each cheek, and two rising from the temples.

It made them look rather like a demon of some kind, or perhaps a shaman - and no-one would ever make the connection between the figure standing there, and the Magic Council Member Ultear Milkovich.

Well - no-one without my advantages, anyway.

Zalty's (easier to refer to them as such now - it would keep me from blurting out her real name and getting all of us in deep shit) eyes, hidden by the dark lenses in their mask, had been on Natsu as the speaker - but now, as if sensing my attention, they turned towards me.

I stared into the dark glass for several moments, the constant, unnerving smile on Zalty's lips not even twitching as I did so, and I got so focussed that I startled when Natsu and Gray abruptly started butting heads.

"You get out of here, flame-brain; Lyon's _my_ fight, so don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong!"

"You already got beaten once! Move over and give someone else a shot; besides, you didn't call it!"

The Dragon Slayer and the Ice Mage kept glaring at each other from close-in, and I let out a long sigh. "It makes me wonder just how badly our S-Class Mages get on, if _this_ is the strongest team our Guild can field." I commented, walking over to the two and casually drawing my hands back.

Twin judicious applications of force later, the two rivals were gripping their foreheads and moaning, having had their skulls cracked together. "Bicker later," I told them, keeping my eyes on Leon and Zalty - the latter of whom seemed to have found an extra inch or so of 'smile' somewhere in their cheek muscles. "For now, Gray can take him on - Natsu, you can get the next one...or, if Gray fucks up again, just take over."

Gray glared daggers at me, and Natsu grumbled - but he took a step back, folding his arms and glaring intently at both the Ice Mages in the room.

 _'Well, if I can't get them to work together, I can at least keep them out from under each others' feet.'_ I sighed internally, before turning back to Zalty, moving up to stand with Lucy - who, I noted happily, hadn't released the Key of the Crab yet.

The blonde glanced at me, and I saw a little smile pull at the corners of her lips. "So, are you going to go running off and leave me with all the hard work again?"

I shook my head, frowning a little; honestly, though I understood that it was good for her, straight-up abandoning my friend and teammate like that still didn't sit well with me, much as I may have justified it to myself. "Nope - this'll be a team exercise."

Lucy turned her focus back to the green-haired Mage before us, who had yet to turn their gaze away from me since I focussed on them. "This is the 'other guy'...right, Declan?"

I nodded, cracking my knuckles and waggling my fingers a few times. "Yup."

My teammate let out a long breath, before drawing her whip in one hand, raising Cancer's key into the air as she did so. "Alright then - let's do this!"

"Right!" I confirmed, lowering myself into a three-point crouch and narrowing my focus down to Zalty, whose grin had only widened.

"So...you two are targeting little old me then?" The figure stood up a bit straighter, hands going to their sides, freed of the cloak. "I suppose I'll have to be serious then..."

The stare-down continued for several seconds more - then, the Mage suddenly gestured at his own feet, and the stone of the floor aged away and broke apart in seconds, allowing the figure to fall down to the floor below with a laugh and a parting comment.

"But first, I must allow Lord Reitei's plan to continue!"

I blinked several times at the floor where Zalty had vanished - seconds after breaking apart, it had flown back together again in a textbook display of entropy being thrown into reverse. Then, I cursed, ran over to that spot, and slammed my palm onto the floor. **"Shinra Tensei!"**

The flagstones blew out, and I immediately dropped through the newly-generated opening to the next level...but there was no sign of Zalty at all, and they were still hidden from my sensing abilities. "Dammit..."

Lucy dropped down through the hole too, landing in a crouch beside me, scanning the area - and not a second too soon, as the area above us exploded into life, ice flying every which way in forms that we could only guess at with a stone floor between us and them.

Lucy glanced back up at the hole, where frost was creeping around the edges and across the ceiling, and gulped. "Phew...I guess it's a good thing we got out of there."

"Yeah," I agreed, scanning the area once more, hoping for a clue. "Unfortunately, that guy's disappeared - and he seemed pretty sure that he could somehow keep Lyon's plan on the rails."

I wasn't entirely sure how he'd manage that, though - we'd defeated all three of Reitei's lieutenants. Then again, we hadn't run into any of those cultist followers of his...perhaps some of them had returned?

I couldn't be sure, but even as I considered it, I could feel a rumbling through the stone of the temple that not even the battle going on above us could explain. My teammate went to ask a question, but instead found herself going to hands and knees, as I did, when the gradient that all the floors had settled onto with the dramatic collapse of the temple's foundations suddenly levelled out, and I knew that from outside, the entire structure had just resumed its usual appearance - as if nothing had ever happened to it at all.

Largely because, now, it hadn't - that aspect of its personal history had been completely erased by the reversal of entropy.

 _'Truly, there are few things more terrifying in this world than the ability to manipulate one of the fundamental dimensions on a whim.'_ I paused for a moment. _'Says the guy who has control over one of the four fundamental phenomena of the universe.'_

Sometimes, the idea of 'power' could become rather skewed in a world where ten percent of the population violated thermodynamics, conservation of mass and energy, as well as the understood laws of nature, on a daily basis.

One way or another though, the temple had been put to rights - that meant that Moon Drip was likely in play once more, with at least one worshipper up on the roof performing the ritual.

"How..." Lucy gasped, shaking slightly even on her hands and knees. "How is that...what _was_ that?"

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts to once again focus on my objective - combating Zalty. "Well, we know what Zalty's power is now." I commented, climbing to my feet and offering Lucy my hand.

She took it, clutching tight as if for stability - probably needing to work off the shock of having had a cornerstone of her universe turned upside down. 'Time moves Forward' had become 'Time moves Backward' for a few seconds, there; anyone witnessing that for the first time could be forgiven for losing their shit for a little while.

Except me, of course - but I didn't really have enough feeling to spare for things like this.

Shock was a novelty that wore off for me a long time ago.

 _'...Man, I kinda wish I'd said that out loud. Note to self: work that into some kind of badass boast later on.'_

As I was thinking, my teammate calmed down enough to release my hand, once more retrieving her whip - she hadn't released Cancer's Key for even an instant during the demonstration of Arc of Time. "That was...Time Magic, wasn't it?" She muttered, taking deep breaths and scanning the area rapidly.

"Yeah." I agreed. "But at least we know it doesn't work on people; if it did, we'd probably have been rewound along with the temple."

"Ah...you're a sharp one, aren't you?"

Lucy and I spun as one to face Zalty's voice; the Mage had managed to get behind us, probably climbing up through the floor, if I had to guess. Their smile was still spread wide on their face, though the black gaze flitted between my face and Lucy's now. "Most people wouldn't have been able to guess that off the bat; you've ruined my big reveal!"

I huffed out a breath, while at the same time focussing most of my attention on a spot to Zalty's left. "I don't get what it is with Mages like you and your show-boating - haven't you ever heard of combat pragmatism?"

"So says Mr. 'Dramatic Timing'..." Lucy muttered beside me, and I almost twitched an eyebrow. Zalty seemed to hear her, and started chuckling.

"Ah, you say that, but doesn't every Mage like to show off a little? What's the point of having Magic without a little...spectacle?"

My features drew into a scowl, irritation rising in me. "You talk about spectacle, like this is some kind of show - some kind of _game_. Yet, the man you follow was willing to have innocent villagers put to death to further his plans; and he's willing to put thousands more at risk by releasing Deliora."

Zalty's smile didn't budge an inch. "Well, that's the nature of spectacle, isn't it? It's fast and it's flashy - if a few people get hurt, well, that's just showbiz."

I felt my scowl deepen, but besides a smouldering weight in my chest, my anger didn't rise beyond that - still, even this much was rather impressive for me. "Entertainment at the expense of others isn't spectacle - it's sadism." I raised my right hand to aim just slightly to the Mage's right-hand-side, which Lucy - who, I idly noted, had been glancing my way while I spoke with Zalty - took as a cue to raise her Key again. "Now, defend yourself! **Shinra Tensei!"**

The blast of force raced away from my open palm, while beside me, Lucy recited a quick incantation - then, plunged the golden Key into the empty air, producing a show of golden light at the rapidly-forming figure of The Great Crab.

In the meantime, Zalty, perceiving the onrushing attack, leapt left to avoid it - as I had rather expected to be the case, Ultear wasn't about to break character and just break my technique apart, and as my attack was off-centre she moved in the direction which took her furthest from the strike.

Zalty let out a startled yell as they passed an invisible line, suddenly going from 'sideways leap' to 'falling like a rock'. I had used the time while we were conversing to ramp up the gravity in a concentrated area just to the Mage's left more and more, and the acceleration was more than enough to catch the green-haired figure off guard, resulting in a rather undignified - but impressive - faceplant, as their upper body's acceleration left their legs dragging behind them, allowing the force of the fall to land almost entirely on Zalty's face.

Much as I'd expected to happen, the gravitational field broke apart seconds after Zalty entered it - Ultear's magical power fought mine off with ease, even though it had taken just long enough for the initial strike of the attack to make it through. Still, the Mage was on the ground, and by the time they could climb to their feet, cracks in their mask reversing even as we watched, Cancer had finished forming.

His hair was black, and braided in red cornrows that end in a shape like a crab's pincers. He was, as always, dressed in a blue striped shirt and dark trousers, boots on his feet. There was a ring chain in his right pocket, and a hairdresser's tool bag on the left side of his belt. He wore a golden necklace, and his eyes were covered by sunglasses with green lenses. His skin was a tanned orange, and he carried a pair of scissors with handles like a crab's pincers in each hand.

All in all, he might not have looked too out of place in a hairdresser's back on Earth - if not for the six crab legs sticking out of his back, anyway.

A stray beam of light caused a gleam on his sunglasses, and the Spirit looked to his contractor. "Hey, Lucy - what hairstyle would you like today, ebi?"

"No styling today, Cancer!" Lucy called, while Zalty was quickly getting to his feet. "I need you to beat the guy with green hair!"

"You got it, ebi!" He declared, brandishing his scissors in a cross-armed position, hands resting on opposite shoulders and his body tilted forward into a sprinter's position.

With a kick off, the Celestial Spirit hurtled forward - causing Zalty to roll quickly sideways, getting out of the way of the charge and summoning a crystalline sphere from... _somewhere_. I didn't quite see; I just knew that it wasn't there one moment, and in the next second it was.

"Well well, a Zodiac Key? That's impressive - let's see how he does against my Arc of Time!"

The sphere, which had been hovering in the air, shot towards Cancer in an instant - only to become bisected just as quickly, the two halves parting and flying to either side of the Celestial Spirit.

 _'...Those are some fucking ridiculously sharp scissors. Then again, I cut things with sand - so I suppose I can't be calling bullshit.'_

Perspective could be so weird sometimes.

Cancer ran forward once the sphere had been sliced apart...only for the projectile to reform itself in seconds and reverse direction, heading right for the Celestial Spirit's unprotected back...

Whereupon I raised my hand, sighting carefully, and intoned **"Bansho Ten'in!"**

My Magic took hold of the object's mass, hooking into the phenomenon of depressed space/time that its mere existence generated at my behest, and my magical power was put to work in pulling it towards me - acting in direct opposition to Ultear's magical power, and bringing the two into conflict.

The ensuing battle of wills was, for the short time it lasted, _brutal_ \- and _not_ in my favour. I had to strain with all my might just to restrain the sphere, instantly feeling sweat bead on my forehead and a tattoo beat drum inside my head, a headache throbbing into existence like I'd been stabbed with an ice-pick. _'And to think, this likely isn't even half her power...'_

Still, my grip on the projectile did its job, restraining it and letting Cancer get in close. This time though, he was forced to back off by Zalty's orbiting debris field, scrounged from the walls, floor and ceiling - the Mage having aged the structure to the point of collapse in order to gather material - and he hopped back to stand beside Lucy and I, huffing out a quick breath. "This guy's a real bad hair day, ebi."

 _'...Well, I guess I couldn't have expected him_ not _to use the hair puns at some point...'_

"I'll go in with you this time," I informed the spirit, keeping my eyes trained on where Zalty stood with an orbiting belt of stone. "I'll go high and try to get behind him, if you approach from the front - you're faster than me, so you should be fine if he starts tossing those rocks at you."

Cancer glanced at me, then looked behind him to Lucy. _'Oh, right- Lucy's his contractor, not me. Should've remember that.'_

Out loud, I said, "Sorry, Lucy - didn't think for a minute there. You okay with that idea?"

The blonde blinked once or twice, then her features became resolved and she grasped her whip with both hands. "Almost - Declan, you take me with you above him; I'll try and get my whip on him from there."

I hesitated momentarily, then nodded, laying a hand on her shoulder and lifting us both off the ground. We accelerated forward rapidly, making use of the high ceilings to level off above Zalty's head but without being at risk of breaking into the floor above us, Cancer darting forward beneath us and seeming to attract most of Zalty's focus.

Still, though the Mage seemed to have their attention largely on Cancer, several objects hurtled towards us - a dilemma I held off on resolving until they were just outside of arm's length to make sure we were as close as possible, before shouting **"Shinra Tensei!"** and blowing them out of the air, leaving an empty space for my teammate to aim through.

The Celestial Spirit Mage's aim was true, and her bullwhip cracked through the air, circling around Zalty's upraised arm in a second - then, with a bit of help from me, the Mage was dragged into the air with a startled shout, spun in one full rotation, and then tossed back to the floor with a crash.

My teammate and I spun a couple of times with our remaining momentum, but fetched up with my right side facing down - perfect for me to raise my hand once more, while my Magic reached up behind me and grabbed a hold of the ceiling. **"Shinra Tensei: Precipitation!"** I declared, loosing first the concussive wave that was the signature of this most basic technique...

While above the target area, gravity tugged hard at the ceiling, breaking it loose and allowing a pile of debris to fall down in the wake of the force wave.

I likened the idea to a vacuum; as if all the gravity in an area had flexed downward, and the area above had its own gravity increase to try and fill the avoid, dragging any mass in that direction along with it.

It was really just a combination of my Gravity Hammer and Shinra Tensei techniques, and only truly applicable indoors, but no matter its mechanics, it proved itself useful.

Unfortunately, not useful enough - as proven when I had to jink Lucy and I sideways to dodge the crystal orb once more, spying a rather rough-looking Zalty on the edge of the debris area as I did so. I couldn't keep my eyes on them unfortunately - the sphere was on us quickly, and I had to focus on manoeuvring to avoid crashing myself and Lucy into any walls, ceilings or floors.

Next to me, I felt my teammate shift slightly, the muscles in her shoulder tensing momentarily - then there was _crack_ of displaced air, a straining sensation not unlike when we had lifted Zalty, and a cry of effort from Lucy which culminated in the sound of shattering crystal.

With a momentary reprieve, I quickly landed us on the floor, glancing over to see that Lucy still had her whip in hand, and that the self-repairing remains of the crystal ball were gathering together in mid-air several feet behind where we'd been. _'Incredible - she managed to snag that thing mid-air with her whip and then smash it, probably using the remaining tangential velocity from when I was turning us.'_

"Cancer!" Lucy called. "Go now!"

"Right, ebi!" The Celestial Spirit declared, leaning forward again before kicking off; this time, without Zalty having their orb to act as a mobile defence.

The Mage attempted to use the remaining debris in orbit around their form...but they had yet to properly regain what had been lost in the mad scramble to get out from under the double-threat Shinra Tensei variant, and what rocks there were didn't even slow Cancer down as he easily sliced through them.

There was a momentary bright flash of light and the sound of blades, followed by a rush of wind...and then Cancer was past Zalty, arms extended to either side, scissors closed.

A moment's pause resulted in the green mane of Zalty's hair exploding into fine follicles and seeming to disperse into thin air, leaving Zalty standing for a short time before toppling over, seemingly out for the count.

I didn't buy it for an instant; especially not since 'Zalty' was entirely a magical disguise, and thus that hadn't been 'real' hair. But still, I had no wish to provoke Ultear - so, I let out a long breath, placing my hands on my knees as I made sure my lungs were getting enough air.

"Thank you, Cancer." Lucy smiled, bowing her head to the Celestial Spirit - a motion which I quickly stood up and copied, drawing some of the hairdressing crab's attention.

"Hm...so you're Lucy's new friend, ebi?" I blinked a couple of times as the Celestial Spirit leaned forward, seeming to examine me from behind his lenses. "Your hairstyle suits you; let me know when it needs maintained, ebi."

"Ah...thank you?" I hazarded, drawing a nod from Cancer as he looked back over at Lucy, who was giving him a strange look.

"See ya, Lucy - I'll cut your hair for you next time, ebi."

The blonde blinked, then shook her head, offering a smile and another inclination of the head. "'Till next time, Cancer - great work today."

The Celestial Spirit vanished in a cloud of golden light, while Lucy just stared at where he'd been standing, not really seeing what was there. I waited a few moments, then broke the silence. "So...is it normal, for Cancer to offer people haircuts like that?"

"Not like that..." Lucy replied, absent-mindedly. "He makes comments, but he basically said he'd be fine with being summoned for just your haircut - except, he's never done that for anyone but me..."

As my teammate was still staring at nothing, I decided that I'd move away from this subject, and instead looked back over to where Zalty had been - I was unsurprised to discover that the 'unconscious' Mage had vanished, seemingly into thin air.

I was considering whether to draw attention to it...when a sound like every animal in the world dying at once filled the air, and my focus was abruptly pulled elsewhere.

I clapped my hands over my ears, Lucy doing the same thing beside me - the howling stopped a few moments later, but we were both reluctant to pull away our protection - a decision for which we were rewarded only seconds later, when a second rendition split the air, coming unmistakably from below us. "What is that?!" Lucy asked, shouting to be heard while I shook my head reflexively.

"Deliora!" I shouted back. "It's gotta be!"

My teammate paled quickly, but I grabbed her shoulder. "Come on - we've gotta find the others!"

With her gravitational field subsumed by mine, we quickly reached the floor above, entering the 'throne room' where Lyon had been sitting before we came along and made a concerted effort to wreck his shit, his face and his day - not necessarily in that order, but achieving all of them anyway.

 _'It's like Oshibana Station...'_ I pondered, staring at the devastation momentarily. _'Only more...well, wrecked.'_

The entire room looked like it had been transplanted from an ice age - there wasn't a brick without great, jutting shards of frozen moisture hanging from it, with many half-formed structures and shattered piles of ice and stone lying around, debris from the battle.

I could see the crumpled form of Lyon, fallen on his face in front of a large hole in the wall; but I moved my attention over to Natsu, Gray and Happy quickly.

Natsu was pulling Gray to his feet, and I noticed that there was no ice encrusted on the Ice Mage's abdomen; it seemed that Lyon hadn't managed to get in a surreptitious stabbing. Happy was flying above them, circling rather like a startled bird.

Gray looked over to us as Lucy and I approached, quickly scanning the area behind us and the hole we'd come through. "Did you get the other guy?"

"We did," I nodded. "But we'll swap stories later - right now, we gotta get down to that cavern. If Deliora's free, our best shot at dealing with it, one way or another, is _right_ now - when it's still waking up."

"Right." Gray nodded, features resolved and stoic - I could easily tell that, even now, he was preparing to use the Iced Shell technique and seal the Demon away once more.

I didn't comment on that aloud though, instead turning and running for the hole we'd first used to enter the room, then dropping down two floors to land on the temple's ground floor - the rest of my teammates following suit, before we all ran together in the direction of the temple entrance.

Once we reached it, we all jumped into the dark void that had once been covered by the hall's floor, falling quickly but under complete control as Lucy grabbed my hand and Natsu's, with Gray's shoulder under my other hand. I flipped us before we touched the ground, and then we were off; sprinting down the joining tunnel, before bursting into the now-lit cavern, where the massive, icy boulder that had once contained Deliora had been reduced to so much water on the floor of the cavern.

I could see how Gray flinched, a myriad emotions flitting across his features before they hardened once more, anger now visible in his clenched fists just as determination was in his jaw.

Still, I only had so much attention for the Ice Mage - particularly when the massive, blue form of Deliora stood before us, empty black eyes seeming focussed on our position, the tainted sensation of corruption radiating from its body like a dark sun.

The five of us just stared for a few moments, adjusting to the weight of Deliora's presence, the crawling horror of its aura. Then, Natsu shook it off; Gray followed quickly, then me - Lucy took a deep breath and her hand, which had been trembling in the air, went for her keys. Happy had got himself together as well, flying up towards the ceiling, circling in preparation for whatever role he might have to fulfil.

"Well, it's revived, and we're here now..." Natsu said, his fists clenching and flames beginning to spark around him. "Alright, guys - let's take this thing down!"

We all prepared for action, leaning to send our weights in the correction directions for evasion or a forward charge - but that came to a halt when a deranged laugh, wet with what I knew must be blood in the progenitor's throat, sounded through the cavern. "It's impossible..." Lyon Vastia babbled, the sound of liquid in his words, a madness in his eyes as he crawled across the stone floor of the cavern, looking for all the world like the risen dead.

 _'To have been so close behind us, even in that state...'_ I grimaced, as the Ice Mage dragged himself upright, as if preparing to fight the Demon before us. _'He either knew a shortcut of some kind, or he actually managed to drag himself this far at the same pace we used to run.'_ If there was anything that would have assured me of the madness that had grown in Lyon, it would have been that.

The white-haired man stood, hunched over and wavering but standing nonetheless, and began to raise his hands...

Only for Gray to send him crumpling back to the floor with a single strike to the side of the neck, before walking forward - beyond the line our team had formed. "You've done enough, Lyon..." The Ice Mage said, taking a deep breath. "Just leave it to me now..." He settled into a stance - knees bent, arms stretched to their limits, crossing at the elbows. "I'll seal Deliora myself!"

Instantly, the icy signature of Gray's Magic shot skyward, growing exponentially more powerful as he focussed, powerful enough to appear as a glowing sphere of white light around him. The Mage's dark hair began to wave in an unnatural wind, the water around his legs stirring as he prepared what he perceived as the only thing that could salvage this situation.

"Iced Shell...!" Lyon cursed, despite the gargling overture of the blood in his throat. "Don't, Gray! Do you know how long it took to melt that ice this time?!" The madman tried once more to regain his feet, failing miserably but continuing to speak, his tone becoming strident, almost a scream. "I'll just do it again - eventually, I'll challenge Deliora once more, and you'll have died for nothing!"

Ur's other student, still preparing his spell, grunted. "But still - now, here, I can stop this; this, is the only thing I can do...the only thing that _can_ be done."

At that, another voice was heard - one that the two Ice Mages had forgotten about for a moment, but one that didn't take such ignorance as a reason to leave the situation be. "The only thing? Don't get a big head, you damn ice-cube."

Natsu Dragneel, his scarf and waistcoat fluttering in the wind, stepped forward - past the glowing light of the Iced Shell, into the water, to stand in front of Gray and face down Deliora directly. There was no fear; no hesitation and no anxiety. There was simply anger, and resolve - more than I thought anyone could possibly display in a situation like this.

"I'll fight it."

A few seconds passed after that announcement, both Ice Mages in the cavern having been stunned into insensibility, before Gray's angry voice rose again. "You damn moron - get out of the way! Move!"

The Dragon Slayer turned - just a bit; enough to look back over his shoulder at the Ice Mage, resolve still alight in him. "The last time you went to use that spell, I stopped you 'cause I didn't want you to die just yet." His eyes narrowed, boring straight into Gray. "Didn't you hear me then? Or did my voice not reach you?"

The stunned Ice Mage just _stared_ , as his long-time rival turned back to Deliora, glaring with all his might at the Demon. "Go on then - cast that spell, if you really want to..." Natsu continued, orange light gathering around his fists.

"BUT I WON'T QUIT UNTIL I'M DEAD!"

Deliora let out another roar, one massive blue arm rearing back, rising as if to hammer in a particularly recalcitrant nail - Gray yelled a warning while Lucy had drawn a Key, but couldn't seem to get beyond that - as if she had completely blanked on what she could possibly do.

As for me...despite my knowledge, how I _knew_ this would end, the sight of the Demon rearing back and preparing to swing was enough to go straight past all the 'surety' I held in my own preparedness, and instead trigger the responses I'd been building up ever since I arrived in Earthland.

I stepped forward, past Gray, to stand beside Natsu - raising both my hands, aiming down an intercept course with Deliora's arm, ready to soften or repulse the attack...

The attack that never came.

As soon as Deliora's arm reached the peak of the wind-up, just when it was ready to start coming down again in order to smash us all flat - the limb stopped. The rest of Deliora did likewise, all motion ceasing for a few moments...until the shaking began.

Tremors ran across the Demon's skin, shaking its limbs visibly until - with a massive _crack_ \- the upraised arm snapped in half around the elbow, fracturing and breaking apart like there had been C4 in there, the forearm falling down Deliora's back while dust and larger debris scattered into the air and began bouncing down the blue corpse.

And a corpse it was; for even as the arm exploded, massive cracks and fissures began to appear, splitting open along the length of Deliora's body, the entire thing seeming more and more like a statue...until something finally gave, and Deliora fell apart, falling down with a roar like an avalanche, blue rock cascading everywhere.

"It can't be..." Lyon gasped, the madness suddenly gone from his tone - instead, he sounded almost scared. "All this time...Deliora was...already dead...?"

The rockslide continued, and I absent-mindedly knocked away anything that might have landed on us; while most of my attention remained on the collapse of Deliora, much as Natsu, Gray, Lucy and Happy were.

Lyon himself wasn't looking; he was staring at the floor of the cavern, hands curled into impotent fists. "For ten years, Deliora was subsumed by Ur's ice..." He whispered, more to himself than to anyone else - though his voice carried anyway. "And that whole time...we were watching its last moment."

One fist rose, striking the ground...and was swiftly followed by liquid, as tears fell from Lyon's eyes. There was no more madness there - just an overwhelming sorrow, and a deep-seated grief. "I never had a chance..." He whispered. "I'll never...surpass Ur..."

The final pebbles of the Deliora landslide ceased, pattering across the floor while rock continued to shift, settling into a massive pile of dark blue stones. Similarly blue dust was thick in the air, although none of us noticed it - we just stared at what had once been a Demon, the scene settling into our memories...until Natsu turned back to Gray. "Gray...your teacher was _awesome_."

The Ice Mage didn't answer - he remained standing in place, staring at the place where Deliora had stood, slowly raising one hand to his face.

I couldn't see his eyes - but there was a telltale sparkle on his cheeks. "Thank you, Ur..." He whispered, barely loud enough for even Natsu to hear, I imagined. "Thank you so much..."

Natsu watched him for a moment, then broke into a wide smile - then turned around, intercepting Happy as the cat dive-bombed him with a joyful cry, the feline burying himself in the Dragon Slayer's chest as the teen laughed.

I lowered my hands - no more falling debris, no more need for a point defence - and let out a long breath, idly placing one hand over my heart underneath my duster. _'A mile a minute...'_ I noted, feeling the organ's attempts to break free of my rib-cage and possibly take up a life of tango, if its enthusiasm was anything to go by. _'That was..._ exhilarating _.'_

I turned away from Natsu and Gray, looking over to where Lucy was standing.

The Celestial Spirit Mage was a little ways back from where we were, seemingly taking in the sight of all of us together - Deliora's wreckage in the background, Natsu and Happy smiling, Gray quietly weeping, and her eyes fell on me.

For a moment, she looked scared - perhaps a little ashamed. I frowned, then stopped when that seemed to make it worse. Instead, I climbed back out of the water and onto the rocky floor of the cavern, heading over to the blonde. When I drew level with her, I hid another frown - she wouldn't meet my eyes.

I blew out a breath. "Lucy, why won't you look at me?" When that didn't elicit a response, I narrowed my eyes a bit. "Ah - am I too ugly perhaps, for the Princess' eyes? Oh for shame - I knew I should have bought a helmet!"

The Celestial Spirit Mage suddenly looked up, mouth open - likely to protest, though whether it was the truth of my statement or my use of the title I wasn't sure - and found herself meeting my eyes, quickly taking on a 'deer in the headlights' look.

I just smiled, reaching out with one hand to give her shoulder a quick squeeze. "Thanks for watching my back, Lucy - and thanks for backing me up against that Arc of Time guy, too; you did brilliantly."

The blonde stared up at me for a few seconds, still meeting my eyes, before letting out a small sigh and returning my smile. "Well, I'm your partner, remember? That means I have to back you up."

I blinked a couple of times, my smile widening when I remember telling her much the same thing on the train platform in Magnolia - then, I raised an eyebrow. "Partner?"

Lucy nodded, turning a little red. "Yeah - like our own mini-team. Unless..."

Her voice shifted to a quiet, insecure tone - at the same time, her eyes dropped, her hands drawing together at her lower back and one boot scuffed the ground gently. "You don't want me?"

I folded faster so fast even I barely noticed I'd done it, pulling the blonde into a side-hug almost on reflex. "Not at all," I assured her. "I couldn't ask for anyone better."

There was about a second where we remained like that - then, I heard muffled laughter as Lucy shook slightly beside me, and my mind caught up with the rest of me. I retrieved my arm quickly, taking a too-quick sidestep from the Celestial Spirit Mage as she giggled into her hand, eyes alight with mirth as she smiled widely.

I stared at her for a few seconds, feeling my cheeks reddening by the second, before turning away and crossing my arms. "That was just unfair."

"Well, consider it part of your learning experience!" Lucy declared, still smiling widely. "You'd better get used to it - you're not going to get rid of me now, Declan Ross; not in a million years!"

I stared at her for a few moments longer, and as I did so, sandy hair and a mischievous smile once again laid themselves over the Mage's features...

Until I blinked, and the spectre was gone - only Lucy stood there, smiling brightly.

I let out a huff of breath, then turned back around properly. "Very well then, Princess - this knight, oh so humble may he be, will stand at your side."

The blonde let out a huff of her own, then extended a hand. "Partners then?"

I rolled my eyes, but reached forward myself, taking hold of the proffered hand - then, with a smirk, I bent over quickly and kissed the back, gently retrieving my own hand. Lucy stared for a few seconds, flushing bright red before she remembered to bring her hand back to her side. "Partners." I confirmed, before abruptly remembering the others, and glancing over toward the trio...

All of whom were smirking in our direction.

 _'...Oh, Mirajane is going to have a field-day with this.'_

I let out a sorrowful breath of air, before shaking my head to clear it and raising my voice a bit to call over. "C'mon, you lot - if you've got everything out of your systems, we've still got a job to complete."

That got their attention, and Lucy's as well. "But...didn't we do that? Deliora's been destroyed, so won't the villagers go back to normal now?"

I shook my head. "Not quite, Lucy - remember, it wasn't Deliora that caused the change in the villagers; it was the Moon Drip. Just because Deliora's finally bitten the dust doesn't meant that the villagers will automatically return to normal."

Natsu and Happy glanced at one another, then shrugged. "So, let's just go and heal them all real quick!"

Lucy let out a sigh, while Gray, who was leaning against a rock nearby, raised an eyebrow. "And how are we gonna do that?"

My teammates glanced at one another, before Gray turned to face behind him - and towards Lyon, who had pushed himself up into a sitting position, reclining against a rock and just staring at the ceiling.

As we approached, he looked down from his perusal of the cavern's stalactites to glance at us, not showing fear or even anger as we arrayed ourselves in a semi-circle. _'I guess he's like me, at the moment - too burned out to give a shit about anything.'_

He'd pass that stage in a little while, if he was anything like me - unfortunately though, he might never be the same again. _'Hmph. Of all the people I could have felt empathy with, it turns out to be this guy...'_

"Yo, Lyon." Gray began, drawing the other Ice Mage's gaze over to him. "That Moon Drip spell of yours - how do we cure its effects?"

The white-haired man blinked, the only sign of surprise or intrigue he displayed before asking "Effects?"

"Don't act like you don't know!" Natsu growled, light flaring around his hands for a moment. "It turned all the people in the village into demons! Several of them have died already!"

Lyon blinked again, then shook his head slightly. "That's the first I've heard of it," he admitted, meeting Natsu's glare with an apathetic lack of caring. "In the three years we've been here, not once have the villagers approached us - and we've never tried to contact them, either."

"Seriously?" Gray muttered. "Not once in three years?"

Lyon's shoulders moved slightly in what might have been a shrug. "Well in any case, I can't tell you about curing any effects...though, I have doubts about our ritual causing anything like that anyway."

Natsu growled again, leaning forward a bit. "Don't tell me you're going to try and say you didn't do anything wrong!"

Lyon blinked again, totally unfazed by the sight of an angry Dragon Slayer getting in his face. "Well, we've been basking in that same light for three years - and it's never had any effect on us."

Natsu blinked rapidly as he considered that, and I raised one hand, dropping a fist onto it. "Right - _that's_ it."

The others turned to look at me, and I grinned. "I know what happened to the villagers; the last piece of the puzzle just fell into place."

My teammates blinked a few times, and I turned, ready to head for the exit... Then paused, holding in place and gathering quizzical looks from my teammates before glancing back over my shoulder, toward Lyon. "Just tell me one thing..." I began, drawing the Ice Mage's attention. "The others who were working with you...are they the same as you and Gray?"

For the first time since Deliora had collapsed, Lyon exhibited emotion - a quick flash of fear, transitioning to anger and then - with a glance towards Gray - something akin to understanding. "...Yes," he said at last. "They are."

I nodded, turning back toward the exit. "Yuka and Toby were tied to a log in a clearing, the last time I saw them," I commented. "Although they might be free by now. Sherry was knocked out on the beach; I'm sure she's awake at this point. I don't know what happened to the others, but we haven't seen any of them."

Lyon grunted, leaning back against the rock. "Sherry woke up hours ago - she was the one who finished the Moon Drip ritual."

"Ah - I had wondered about that." I began walking once more, raising one hand to wave over my shoulder as I did. "My name's Declan; Declan Ross. May we meet again, Lyon - under better circumstances, preferably."

I kept walking out of the cavern without waiting for a reply, followed quickly by Natsu and Lucy - the two of them seemed to understand that something important had happened in that little conversation, but weren't sure what - or perhaps, they were simply too considerate to ask.

One way or another, Gray caught up with us after we ascended the same staircase we had used the night before, and we began the trek back to the village in a quiet, companionable silence.

Well, until...

"So Declan, Lucy, when's the wedding?"

 _'...Fuck.'_

* * *

Once we returned to the village and explained that the Mages who had been threatening them had been dealt with, and that the thing they were attempting to unseal (we decided against mentioning Deliora by name - no need to cause a panic after the fact) had been neutralised, there was a great deal of relief all around...

Then once the Mayor came forward, there was a hush - and this time, Lucy pushed me forward; probably because I'd been a smug bastard and not explained what I had 'figured out' on the way back, despite much pleading on her part. She hadn't dared go any further than that, since Happy had been churning out innuendo and questions about our upcoming marriage ceremony like they'd make him money, while Natsu and Gray both grinned and joined in when they could.

 _'And of course, if I ask, she'll say it's a 'learning experience'. Cunning woman; that phrase is as catch-all as 'For the Greater Good'.'_

When the elderly demon approached, I inclined my head. "Mayor; I believe I have the solution to your problem."

More susurrations ran through the crowd at that, and the Mayor himself seemed to perk up immediately. "You are sure, young Mage?"

I bobbed my head a bit from side to side. "I am quite confident, yes; certainly, I believe this will resolve the issue."

The Mayor smiled, relief and gratitude shining through despite his inhuman visage. "Then please, do so - we'll help however we can."

"Thank you." I inclined my head again, then stood a bit straighter, glancing around. "Do you have a particularly open space we can use? Preferably an elevated one."

One of the nearby villagers coughed to draw attention, then pointed toward the village wall. "There are several posts around the walls with plenty of room; would one of those do?"

"Yes, thank you." I turned to my teammates, and began issuing instructions. "Lucy, if you don't mind bothering him again, I'd like you to summon Cancer - we're going to need his cutting abilities. Gray, Natsu, you two take a quick rest while I go and grab a tree; get something to eat, take care of any injuries you've got. Happy, you do the same - lend them a hand if they need something fetched."

They all nodded, moving to do as I'd asked, while I hopped over the village wall and uprooted a likely-looking candidate from the treeline, ferrying it back over the divide and standing it upright in the middle of the village.

By that time, Cancer had already materialised - and was talking hair-care with the Mayor, specifically about how to properly maintain facial hair.

I noticed that Lucy was watching with a certain exasperated fondness; an expression that suited her so well, I almost thought she glowed in the moonlight.

When she turned in my direction and met my eyes, I realised I'd been staring, and quickly turned away to examine the unearthed tree I'd collected, which prompted Lucy to request Cancer break off his conversation and lend me a hand - or his scissors.

A quick consultation later, the Great Crab set to work with his usual efficiency - seconds after he began, excess material fell away from the tree until what remained was effectively a robust, weighty javelin, wide at the base and ready for throwing.

Giving the Celestial Spirit my thanks, I carted the weapon over to where Gray was eating soup alongside a gaggle of several female demons, seemingly oblivious to the looks they were giving him as he got the food in him. _'It's a good thing Juvia isn't here,'_ I noted idly, even while I was asking him to ice over the javelin internally and externally, though preferably not enough to cause the sap within to expand too much. _'Hm - I wonder, could I help those two get together? if I can,_ should _I? I mean, I have no idea how they'd get along as a couple - though, I don't think it'd be that bad a match, all things said.'_

I shelved those thoughts for such a time as when Phantom Lord had been put down like the rabid dog it was, and the few good seeds within it could be moved to better soil. At the moment, I was returning to Natsu, asking him to follow me up to the platform.

We gained a following as we headed there, and by the time I flew us both quickly up to the guard post, it seemed like all of the village must have turned out to see what we were going to do.

"So, Declan, what's the plan?" Natsu asked, rubbing his hands together in anticipation and eyeing the massive weapon I was carrying.

"Pretty simple, Natsu." I replied. "We're gonna break the purple moon."

The Dragon Slayer blinked, then grinned. "ALRIGHT! LET'S DO IT!"

I smiled, the enthusiasm not yet having had time to become irritating, and gestured for Natsu to stand behind me. "Okay - I'm gonna line up the shot and make a gravity corridor..." I saw his blank look, and continued. "They're what let me move really fast, like a corridor you walk down, getting faster as you go." Natsu nodded his understanding, and I continued. "Anyway, I'll line it up; but I need you to really get it going. So, I'll need you to punch the back of end of this," I patted the overlarge javelin, "as hard as you can. Cancer left most of the structural durability alone, and Gray already froze it to harden it more, so hopefully you won't break it."

The Dragon Slayer nodded, grinning. "Hit it hard - right up my alley!"

I nodded, then turned to face the purple moon where it hung in the sky, narrowing my eyes as I raised my right arm, the back of my hand hovering above my shoulder, the javelin resting on my palm with my fingers facing away from the head. I adjusted my footing until I was properly oriented, then cast my Magic out in front of me - I pumped enough magical power into the effect that my Magic Circle formed multiple times along the path of the gravity corridor, spinning gently and giving me a visual cue.

Pulling my arm back and lifting one leg to get a bit more _oomph_ out of my body's movement, I let out a deep breath - then, nodded. "Now, Natsu!"

There was a flare of light and heat behind me, and just as I was throwing the javelin, an absolutely _incredible_ force added itself to my own, launching the javelin forward like a bat out of Hell, right into the gravity corridor.

My Magic's acceleration grabbed the javelin and it went from being just a blur to almost leaving my ability to view entirely, shooting into the sky like a rocket as we watched after it.

I shaded my eyes as I tracked its upward progress, smiling a little to myself. "Four!" I called softly, and a few seconds later, I heard the first _crack_.

Gasps and shouts could be heard from the crowd below us as dark cracks began to spread out from a point centred on the moon as seen from the village -then, sections of the purple night sky began falling away like glass and dissipating, starting a chain reaction which spread through the sky above Galuna Island, until the unnatural purple of the Moon Drip had been replaced by the familiar midnight tones of a natural night-time.

I nodded happily, clapping Natsu on the shoulder. "Nice work, Natsu. Thanks for the help; I don't think I could have got it that high without you."

The Dragon Slayer grinned. "No problem, Declan - now let's get down; I'm hungry!"

 _'Colour me surprised.'_ I thought to myself, as the two of us dropped down from atop the wall and into the crowd of confused, milling villagers. Among them, Gray and Lucy were looking utterly bamboozled, and approached us quickly as got down.

"Declan, what was that? The sky broke, and...the villagers didn't go back to normal?"

I smiled. "Actually, Lucy, they did - do you remember what I told you our first night here?"

Lucy's eyes unfocussed for a moment, before she blinked a couple of times and formed an 'o' shape with her mouth. "The Moon Drip - you said it makes a lens!"

I nodded. "Exactly. That was affecting the moonlight, which in turn affected the villagers - the reason being that, unlike Lyon and the others, the villagers weren't humans at all; they were actually demons."

Gray and Lucy's jaws dropped. ""Seriously?!""

I glanced over at a few villagers who were listening in, and they all nodded, if a bit slowly. "Yup - why do you think they call this place the 'Island of Demons'?"

My teammates took a few moments to process that, and were just getting there when a vaguely familiar voice spoke up from the edge of the crowd, happiness and a bit of awe audible in it. "You guys actually broke the curse...this is amazing; I'm so glad I left this in your hands."

We turned to face the voice, as did several of the villagers - revealing the fully-demonic form of Bobo, who waved at us. "Thank you, Mages!"

Lucy and Happy grabbed onto one another as the closest things at hand and then hid behind me, while Gray looked a bit shaken - only Natsu seemed to be taking all this in stride. "Are you that sailor?!" Gray asked, while the other two were gibbering about ghosts.

At the same time, the Mayor was staring at Bobo as if he couldn't comprehend what he was saying, while the villagers were looking confused, their gazes shifting back and forth between Bobo and the stone memorial which served as his grave. As their confused exclamations rose, Bobo just laughed. "We're demons! It'll take more than being stabbed in the chest to kill one of us!"

Gray was still staring, although Happy and Lucy had grown brave enough to peek over one of my shoulders apiece, which probably looked rather odd from an observer's perspective. "But...didn't you disappear from the boat?"

Bobo grinned, then abruptly vanished in a vague blur of movement - re-materialising several metres above his previous position, supported by dark wings previously concealed beneath his cloak. "I'm sorry I didn't explain back then," he called down. "But I was the only one to keep my memory, so I had to leave - with everyone else thinking they were human, I was scared to stick around."

As Bobo was giving his explanation, the Mayor had been shaking slightly in place - when it concluded, the elderly demon suddenly spread wings of his own and launched himself into the sky crying his son's name, wrapping the other demon in a mid-air hug.

They were soon joined by others, as more and more of the villagers spread their wings and took to the air, laughing and letting loose joyous shouts as they swirled around one another beneath the pure moonlight of the island.

My teammates and I all looked up at it, smiling to ourselves. "You know..." Natsu commented, still smiling widely. "They might call this place Demon Island...but like this, they look more like angels."

I chuckled, shaking my head a bit. "I guess they do, at that."

The villagers began floating down again, the smiling, laughing duo of Bobo and the Mayor at the centre, and the village came to life in a rush of exuberance and celebration.

"We're gonna have a feast! A demon feast!"

My teammates and I glanced at one another, then shrugged - free food was, regardless of world, race, Magic or circumstance, still free food.

* * *

 _Overlooking the Village_

In the trees on the outskirts of the village, the cloaked figure of Zalty - minus all hair, and looking quite worse for wear - crouched on a branch, overlooking the villagers and their guests.

Beside them floated the crystal sphere which had been used as a weapon earlier that day, now broadcasting the sound an image of the person on the other end to Zalty and vice-versa.

"So, have you seen everything you wanted to see?" Zalty asked, glancing at the sphere.

"I have," came the reply - smooth, cultured and charismatic as always, even without anyone nearby to benefit from the role. "Those Fairy Tail Mages performed far better than expected, didn't they?"

"Indeed they did," Zalty agreed. "The Heartfilia and the Anchor in particular were quick off the mark with those brains of theirs - with those two working with the Salamander and Fullbuster...well, the Titania didn't even have to get involved at all."

"It was rather impressive," the voice from the sphere noted. "I almost hope they don't get in our way."

The figure of Zalty reached up to their mask, pulling it away from their face. As it detached, the hunched stature, manic face and shamanic garb all vanished in white smoke.

In Zalty's place, Ultear Milkovich stood tall. Her eyes were dark grey, set in naturally porcelain skin below raven hair which fell to just below her shoulder blades. She was dressed in a white kimono-top, only her left arm bearing a sleeve, and a skirt in the same style ending above her knees. The top was held closed by an orange-yellow sash around her abdomen, and she wore sandals on her feet. Around her neck was a leather collar.

"Yes..." She murmured, staring down at the village - her gaze lingering longer on another dark-haired user of Ice-Make Magic than it did anywhere else. "Almost."


	12. XI - Winding Down

The party that ensued after the removal of the Moon Drip lens lasted well into the early morning, and continued well after even Gray and Natsu had staggered back to their beds for some well-earned rest. Lucy and I turned in considerably earlier, fielding thanks from villagers that we passed on the way as they danced or flew past, singing, laughing, eating or drinking - sometimes a combination of two or more.

Still, even with that mayhem going on outside, I fell asleep quickly - between the headache I'd been nursing since pitting myself against Ultear, the adrenaline overclocking I'd received when I ran forward to face Deliora and the focus I'd expended forging the sand-blade below the temple, I had barely touched my head to my duster-pillow before I passed out.

* * *

When I woke, I could still hear Lucy's soft breathing through the curtain across the middle of the room - and the ground-shaking rumbles of the snoring in the next house over which stood testament to Natsu and Gray's location.

Walking out of the house, I let loose a great, stretching yawn - then, I made my way at a leisurely walk to the village gates, waving to the guards as I passed.

Once I was out of the village, I flew up to just above the treeline, skimming the emerald canopy until I reached the spot where I'd fought Toby and Yuka. As I'd hoped, both were gone - the vines I'd used to tie them lay snapped in a circle around the base of the tree-trunk, still standing upright.

I flew a quick circuit of the island, eyes half-closed as I paid attention to what my magical senses were telling me. As I did so, I could feel Lyon, Sherry, Toby and Yuka all sitting in the upper levels of the temple, overlooking the island; there were also quite a few miscellaneous, low-power signatures scattered throughout the building, which I supposed were the unfortunately-garbed cultists.

Assured that Lyon had gathered all his people back together, I circled back around to a spot nearby the village walls, settling down on a prominent rock to make sure I had my breath back, and get used to walking again.

I took a few moments, then idly glanced around, raising my voice. "So, did we do okay?"

There was silence for a few moments, then one of the shadows behind the treeline seemed to twist and detach itself, gaining substance and taking on the form of a buxom woman. As the figure stepped into the sunlight, colour swept over it like running paint - not that it was a great change, as the woman was dressed in dark, loose clothing, the only skin showing in a bar across the eyes to allow vision.

The figure reached up and tugged the mask down and up at the same time, revealing the statuesque features of Erza Scarlet and allowing her signature red hair to flow free, the colour startling bright against her clothes.

I stared for a few moments, blinking rapidly, before saying the first thing that came to mind. "I think I know where Natsu learned about ninjas, now."

Erza's lips twitched, and she nodded. "Yes; Natsu developed a great interest in the Shinobi Arts after he realised how easily he would be able to get away with his usual antics should he master them. Fortunately, he has yet to discover a genuine Nin to teach him."

I considered the thought of a Natsu with the ability to sneak around - or, I tried to. My brain, unfortunately, failed to process the idea correctly, and instead kept on throwing images of Naruto Uzumaki at me. _'That...sounds about right, though.'_

"Long may that state of affairs continue." I replied, shuffling around to face the Titania as she took a seat on another prominent boulder, easily falling into a cross-legged pose despite the fact that she shouldn't possibly be capable of balancing so precariously based on her seat. _'Ninjas, man. Ninjas.'_

"Still, my question stands - how'd we do?"

The S-Class Mage regarded me for a few moments, arms crossed, then replied. "Your team performed admirably; while there was a certain degree of stumbling at the beginning of the job, I myself have participated in S-Class Jobs that included just such circumstances. Going into a situation with only so much information as the client can provide, bearing in mind that they likely have little to no knowledge of Magic themselves and may or may not have the education for their information to be valid, can lead to far worse situations than your team became part of.

"While the group teamwork was not up to the standards of, say, Shadow Gear, this is also understandable - Gray and Natsu have always been difficult to corral, particularly in each others' presence, and anything less than open combat is cooperation enough between them. Meanwhile, you and Lucy showed a burgeoning synergy that served you well and will likely continue to do so, as well as complimentary intellects that were of great use in offsetting the information disadvantage.

"Overall, you did better than I was anticipating; you accomplished the objective of the job, you did so without allowing the clients to come to harm and you also went above and beyond the scope of the job successfully. I must admit, my own first S-Class Job went less successfully."

Finished with her observations, Erza eyed me for a few moments longer, then nodded. "I believe that, in the future, I would be willing to have your team accompany me on more jobs; with more experience, your team could likely all attain the rank of S-Class, and Fairy Tail could always use more Mages to take S-Class jobs."

A satisfied warmth kindled in my chest and I smiled widely, inclining my head. "That means a lot coming from you, Erza; I'm sure it'll mean a lot to the others, too."

Erza nodded, then glanced toward the temple. "I take it that you plan to let the group go free?"

"Yes," I agreed. "Their plan was dangerous and, frankly, stupid - but with Deliora gone, the villagers' memories restored and Lyon's madness broken, there's really nothing to charge them with, or a good reason to try." I paused for a moment, recalling the instant of connection I had felt between myself and Lyon - the understanding of seeing a part of myself reflected in him. "Prison won't do them any good. They'll do better out there, living properly - maybe they'll find their answer one day."

Erza's gaze fastened onto my eyes and didn't move for several long moments, after I finished speaking - as it did so, I realised that I had probably emoted a bit more than I really wanted to.

Still, she broke off the stare without comment, and nodded. "That would be my response, as well." The Mage abruptly rose from her cross-legged position, flipping backward off the rock and settling into a normal standing position as if it were nothing at all. I stared for a few seconds, just long enough to need to turn away quickly when the redhead's clothing began to glow, swapping itself with the more well-known Heart Kreuz armour.

Once I glanced back around, the Titania raised an eyebrow and gestured toward the village. "Shall we go, then?"

* * *

The gate guards were happy enough to let Erza and I back inside when I explained that she had come to get us back to Magnolia, Erza's display of her Guild Mark easing the process further. Once we were inside the walls, we headed down the road to the houses where our comrades were sleeping.

Once we were standing in front of the houses, I favoured Erza with a smile, hoping that it wasn't so wide as to seem mischievous or false. "How about you get Gray and Natsu, Erza, and I'll get Lucy?"

The redhead nodded, heading inside the building which currently housed the two male Mages while I entered Lucy and I's borrowed abode, cackling internally. _'That oughta pay them back for all those comments yesterday.'_

Once I was standing beside the curtain that separated the building, I crouched down, rapping my knuckles repeatedly on the wooden floor of the hut. I kept it up until I heard a groan from the other side, followed by a shuffling sound that culminated in Lucy sticking her head out from under the curtain and pinning me with a grumpy look. "What is it, Declan?" She groaned, obviously still half-asleep.

I collected my thoughts quickly from where they'd scattered at the incredibly distracting sight of Lucy in the morning, offering my shop-keeper's smile instead of the evil smirk my muscles were twitching to form. "Well, Erza came to pick us up, and I figured you wouldn't want to keep her waiting."

Lucy stared at me for a few moments, not quite comprehending what I'd said. Then, her face seemed to drain of all blood and begin to tremble slightly, her eyes widening. "E...Erza's...here...?" She stammered, and I nodded happily.

"Yup; she's just waking Natsu and Gray at the moment."

As if I had timed it, there came a pair of terrified screams from next door, and Lucy's eyes locked onto the wall through which they had passed, rapidly switching her gaze back and forth between it and my still-smiling features. Then, the blonde let out a small whimper and retreated back under the curtain like a shot, leaving it to sway with her passing.

I raised an eyebrow, then raised the barrier a bit - enough to lower quickly if needs be, but enough to glimpse under - only to find myself grabbed by the collar and dragged into the other side of the room, then into the corner. There, I found myself sitting, rather bemused, with Lucy curled up behind me, trying to make herself as small as possible.

"Lucy, what-"

I found myself unable to finish the question, as one of my teammate's hands wrapped around and held my mouth shut. "Shhh!" She hissed, keeping her voice low. "If we don't make any noise, she might not find us!"

 _'This girl just bounces back and forth between bombshell and adorable, doesn't she?'_

Glancing back at Lucy, she seemed to have enough faith in me to remove her hand, allowing me to speak again - though, for her preference, I kept my voice low. "And why are we hiding?"

The blonde looked at me like I had gone insane. "Because _Erza is out there!_ " She hissed, grabbing my collar again as if preparing to try and hammer her point into my forehead. "And we _stole an S-Class job!_ If she finds us..." The Celestial Spirit Mage suffered a full-body shiver, eyes going wide again as her imagination went into overdrive.

"Ah!" I exclaimed, as if I had suddenly come to a realisation. "Well, if it's being found you're afraid of, there's an easy solution!"

The blonde looked to me with such a wide-eyed expression of hope that I almost broke down and just explained things - but I persevered. After all, Lucy was too smart for me to pull this kind of thing on her too often, and the memory would be one to treasure. "It's not being found if you go to the person, after all."

The hope in Lucy's eyes turned to fear in an instant as I went to stand up, and I could feel her make a spirited attempt to drag me back down to the floor. Unfortunately for her, Lucy wasn't exactly heavy; particularly not with all the self-improvement work I'd done in the past six months. Hell, even before that, I suspected I wouldn't have been hard-pressed to carry her for a while.

The result of her attempt was that Lucy was hanging down my back, arms doggedly around my neck in what was either meant to anchor me to the floor or strangle me, while I calmly walked across the room and out the front door, the girl on my back seemingly unable to release her arms - probably out of sheer force of incredulity. "Hey, Erza!"

The redheaded Requip Mage turned from where she was standing in the road, Natsu and Gray clutching onto each other on the ground at her feet, and raised an eyebrow when she saw me.

Before she could speak up, I continued, "I'm afraid I couldn't find Lucy; I mean, I looked everywhere in there..." I made a show of turning around, prominently displaying Lucy - who, I suspected, was taking the ostrich approach to the situation and had buried her face in my upper back. I looked into the house for a few seconds, then turned back around, shrugging. "But there was no sign of her."

Erza stared at me for a few seconds, probably noting the twitching of my lips, then nodded solemnly - only I could see the tiny smile that pulled at the corners of her mouth. "I see; that's unfortunate, but I can catch up with her later."

My twitching lips went a little wider, while I could hear Lucy whimper a little behind me, probably wondering when the other shoe was going to drop.

"For now," Erza continued, turning around to face the two Mages on the ground - and Happy, I noticed, who had wrapped himself in Natsu's scarf like the world's strangest burrito, and was dangling down the Dragon Slayer's back in a parody of Lucy and I's current position. "I suppose I'll have to make do with you three."

Natsu and Gray looked up at their long-time superior/friend/sister-figure, gulping massively as they shook in place, then closing their eyes and preparing for the verbal onslaught to come once Erza's mouth opened again.

Instead, an arm went around each of them, and they were dragged upward into a standing hug that had both of them gasping for air, while simultaneously giving them instant minor concussions from their heads' collision with a steel breastplate. "Well done, both of you."

Natsu and Gray _stopped_ for a second - just, ceased all motion. Then, they looked to each other; then from one another, they looked to Erza, who was still hugging them. Then, they turned as one to look at me...where I was shaking in place, trying to hold in my laughter and coming very close to failing.

I looked up at them, barely able to speak straight with my pent-up mirth, and smiled just as widely as Zalty had the other day, and with just as much malice. "Oh come on, you didn't think the Master would actually let us go on an S-Class job without an S-Class Mage, did you?"

"Indeed," Erza commented, finally letting Gray and Natsu get some air into their lungs. "It was most disorganised of you to forget to ask the Master about having an escort, Natsu - it's lucky that Declan remembered to do so, otherwise I might have had to hunt you down."

Gray and Natsu both continued to stare at me, shell-shock writ wide on both their faces. "You mean..." Gray managed to get out, "That all this time of thinking we had stolen an S-Class job, and that we were gonna walk right back into a punishment when we got home..."

"We actually had permission!" I agreed, nodding happily. "In fact, Erza's been here just about the entire time!"

I was only able to witness the looks on their faces for a few seconds before the dam broke and I bent almost double, laughing myself silly in a way that would have made Frankenstein proud. Natsu and Gray continued to stare at me, while Happy lost his grip on Natsu's scarf and allowed his burrito to unravel, falling to the ground and bouncing, but staring at me all the way.

I laughed even harder, holding my stomach and almost falling sideways to the ground, while Erza turned away from the group to chuckle into her hand, out of the others' notice.

I kept up the mad-scientist laughter, even when I glanced behind me and saw that Lucy had disembarked at some point during my explanation, and was now standing, staring at me with the same kind of shock as Natsu and Gray. That set me off further, and I saw a vein pop out on the blonde's temple, trembling beginning in her fists and building until it reached all the way up her arms and into the rest of her body.

"Declan..." She growled, her bed-tossed hair hanging low over her eyes, shadowing them from view. "You... _you..._ "

I rolled sideways on an instinct, still laughing, and Lucy's downward blow shattered the ground of the road, instead of my head. " _COME BACK HERE!"_ She yelled, chasing after me as I went into a run, not my full speed, but fast enough to make it an actual chase, cackling my head off.

* * *

About half an hour later, I toppled over back where the chase had started, trying to feed more air into my lungs but still letting loose the occasional bought of maniacal cackling, while Lucy did much the same thing beside me, then gave me a half-hearted slap to the head. We didn't try to speak for a little while, just getting our breath back, before the blonde broke the silence with a giggle of her own.

"I have to admit...that was pretty funny."

I grinned, feeling the burn in my lungs and face from the constant laughter. "Thanks...I thought so, too."

The Celestial Spirit Mage huffed out a breath, shooting a quick glare at me. "Still, don't do that again! I think my heart stopped there!"

I chuckled, but nodded, rolling into a sitting position. "Got it; next time, I'll tell you beforehand so we can get the others."

Lucy stared at me for a few seconds, then broke into fresh giggles. "That sounds about right."

We sat together for a couple more minutes, calming down, and the trio of Erza, Gray and Natsu poked their heads out of the other house, quickly walking over to us. The Ice Mage scowled at me, arms crossed. "That ass-kicking I owe you? It's been doubled." He informed me, and I nodded, smirking.

"Gotcha - worth it, though."

He glared at me for a moment longer, before sighing and grinning a bit himself. "Yeah, I guess it was well done. Just don't think you'll get me the same way again."

I glanced over at Lucy, who met my gaze and smiled to herself as I turned my own grin back to Gray. "Right; I'll remember that."

The Ice Mage shot another suspicious scowl at me, before Natsu stepped forward, also glaring, but with a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "I really want to be pissed off with you right now," he told me, arms folded and glaring much like Gray before him. "But this way, I know that Gramps'll be proud, and we got to do an S-Class job basically on our own."

He glanced back at Erza, who nodded. "There was no need for me to intervene at all," she confirmed, then paused. "Although come to think of it, those Mages who wouldn't tell me how to get to the temple might have counted..."

 _'...Well, at least that explains what happened to those guys. I'm surprised they were conscious enough to get back to the temple already.'_

"Well, anyway, I'm not exactly happy - but I asked you and Lucy to make a team with me because you two think about things like this, so I guess I shouldn't be mad that you're doing what I asked you to."

I offered an expression which was more of a genuine smile than my satisfied smirk this time, inclining my head a bit. "Thanks, Natsu - I'll tell you if something like this comes up again..." I paused. "Well, unless you're being an idiot - then I'll just stand back and laugh."

The Dragon Slayer glared at me for a moment or two longer, then shook his head, a smile growing across his features. "Alright, then...but you owe me another sparring match!" He paused. "And dinner!"

"Gotcha," I replied, getting my feet under me and offering a hand to Lucy as I rose. "For now, let's just get back home."

I looked to my partner, who had settled from her laughter but was still smiling a bit. "Lucy, if you get changed and pack, then we can collect the job reward from the Mayor and get going."

The blonde blinked, then seemed to abruptly remember the reward for this job - the reward that we had earned fairly, and that she had been willing to go against Guild rules in order to gain. "Right!"

Lucy vanished quickly into the building Natsu and Gray had been using, while I looked over at Erza. "So, it's okay for us to collect the reward, right?"

The redhead nodded. "Indeed - had you simply run off with the job, you would have had to leave it, regardless of whether you completed the job or not - otherwise it would have given the Guild a bad name, and undermined the laws of the Magic Council." Erza glanced toward Natsu, who stood up a bit straighter and trembled for a moment before the redhead's gaze moved on. "However, since the Master registered the job as having been assigned to me, with your team classified as my support, this job was entirely sanctioned - even if I myself wasn't involved in the work."

I frowned at hearing that, suddenly wondering about how that system could be exploited; as if reading my thoughts, Erza smiled a bit. "There are, of course, safety measures in place - for example, the Guild Master is directly responsible for overseeing the assignment of any and all S-Class jobs to his Guild Members, meaning they are aware of any S-Class Mage who makes a habit of bringing along more participants than they can justify; and the Magic Council checks up with the clients of S-Class jobs once the mission reports get back to them, so they can be sure everything is in order."

My worries assuaged, I nodded my understanding; moments later, Lucy appeared from the hut, dressed for travel and with satchel and trundle bag at hand.

I took the trundle bag from her as had become the norm, and we all moved through the village toward the entrance, where a crowd had gathered - the Mayor and Bobo at its head.

"Mages," the elderly demon greeted us. "I feel we cannot thank you enough - you have returned our lives to us, and it is a debt we cannot repay."

I shifted uncomfortably, while Lucy smiled widely and inclined her head, Erza, Natsu and Gray all accepting the gratitude with smiles of their own. "We were happy to do it, Mayor." Lucy replied, raising her head. "It's what Fairy Tail does, after all."

The Mayor smiled even more widely. "Nonetheless, we must do something to repay you - so, we present the seven million Jewels that you were promised for the job's completion."

Bobo reached down beside himself, picking up a larger-than-average briefcase which he then offered to our group. We glanced at one another, before Erza stepped forward, taking the case gently from Bobo and popping the lid, holding it to the side for us to see.

Stacked within were more Jewels than I had yet to see in one place, the brown-paper notes all high denominations from what I could see. Erza closed the case a few moments later, smiling brightly at the Mayor and the villagers, bowing her head - a motion copied by all of us behind her. "Thank you very much, Mayor - you're very generous."

The elderly demon chuckled, waving away the compliment. "It's no trouble; the unnaturally violent seas around here tend to wreck a great many ships, so we can go diving for their cargo and then sell it on in Hargeon and other port towns. We have little use for money, as we live almost entirely on the produce of the island itself, and so it is no great pain to be parted from it."

"Still," Erza replied, "for us, this is a most generous reward."

"Perhaps," the Mayor allowed, before reaching into his cloak. "But, it is not enough in our eyes - so, we also present you..." His clawed hand returned, cradling within it something that flashed gold in the sunlight. "With this; the Zodiac Key for the Celestial Spirit Sagittarius."

Lucy's eyes began to sparkle in a manner that bordered on disturbing, stepping forward quickly to stand beside Erza and cupping her hands, allowing the Mayor to lower the key onto her palms.

The Celestial Spirit Mage immediately brought the golden object up to her cheek and started to make a sound low in her throat that sounded suspiciously like a cat's purr. She remained that way until I moved forward quickly, guiding her away by the shoulder as Erza had another Canadian Showdown with the Mayor.

It took us a couple of minutes to walk down to the beach - particularly with Erza's baggage in tow. I personally suspected that she had buried it somewhere for the duration of the mission - though, I would also accept that she may have threatened one of the villagers into storing it without telling anyone.

Well...not _threatened,_ per-say - she would just have made a suggestion.

Strongly.

No matter the case, the rolling platform stacked high with various boxes trundled along behind us as we walked, my hand still on Lucy's shoulder to steer her around the hazards she was unaware of while she was focussed on her new Key. Little things - like roots, stones, logs, trees and people.

 _'This girl has a serious case of obsessive collector's disorder.'_ I thought to myself, shaking my head as I tugged my partner out of the way of yet another several-metre-tall tree that she had been about to walk into. _'It's probably for the best that there aren't games consoles in Earthland - otherwise she'd have become a Pokémon-obsessed NEET by now.'_

Well...probably not, actually. After all, her fixation on Celestial Spirits wasn't spontaneous, or a quirk someone had 'written' into her. It was rooted much deeper than that - so much so that any comment I could possibly have made died on my tongue.

For all intents and purposes, my family were as good as dead from my perspective and vice-versa - but I had the 'advantages' of a strained familial relationship and having few to no shits left to give for anything in general. What I perceived as most of Lucy's world had come crashing down around her with her mother's death, taking her family along with it.

We were...actually more alike than I considered, for all the differences in our situations.

My thought process distracted me long for us to reach the coastline (and I breathed a sigh of relief that neither of us had run into anything - having the person leading the oblivious collector get lost in thoughts and walk into a tree would have been too ironic for this time of morning), and once we stepped onto the sand both Lucy and I snapped out of our respective trances - largely because the sight of Archie was one that would cause any sane being to immediately give him their full attention.

Between his sheer stature, his weather-beaten appearance and the weight of command that he still carried from his years of yelling orders at sea, there was, quite simply, no ignoring him.

"Ahoy, Ms. Scarlet!" He called, voice loud enough to be heard from the other side of the island, if I were to bet on it. "And to ye too, Declan!"

"Hey, Archie." I called back, once I had blinked off the surprise. "So, I take it Erza... _convinced_ you to bring her out here?"

The massive sailor chuckled, which sounded rather like two grizzly bears in open combat. "The lass wis goin' through the cap'ns like a hurrican' through a leisure yacht; when ah 'eard she wis lookin' tae head fer Galuna too, I figured she wis wi' ye." Archie looked over to Erza, definite respect plain in his eyes. "Personality like a Wint'r storm, that lass." He shook his head, shrugging. "Well, wi' all th' usual rabble laid out, ah saw an opportun'ty tae stretch me legs fer a bit. Galuna's seas're a challenge all o' their own; doin' some good fer a friend sweetened the deal."

I conjured a small smile and the septuagenarian grinned in return, then looked over to my teammates.

All of them were looking at Archie with no small degree of awe; I could imagine that Gray and Natsu were getting the urge to start doing push-ups just _looking_ at him - I certainly had, at first. Lucy's expression seemed to indicate she was wondering how on Earthland a human like Archie could exist, and was coming up blank.

Erza herself had kept coming forward with her baggage, offering a cordial nod and respectful "Captain." to Archie as she went past and started up the gangplank, which moaned beneath the weight of her luggage but, thankfully, didn't snap.

After we said our goodbyes to the villagers, we headed for the ship, and I examined it as we went.

The vessel was much like Archie; weather-beaten, showing signs of age, but all the more impressive for all that. It was, as the vast majority of ships were, reliant on the wind for propulsion - combustion engines were few and far between on Earthland, being seen more as a curiosity and a novelty than as an actual advancement of any kind. There were options for using Magic, but ships like that tended to be privately built and privately owned, usually by Guilds or various politically connected families due to the expense involved in purchasing Lacrimas and designing the systems to use the Magic - it was much cheaper to do things the old-fashioned way, or simply hire a Weather Mage of some kind.

Large enough to comfortably hold ten people, the ship had two masts - one at the centre, the other atop the cabin-structure at the rear of the ship. Railings enclosed it, with one cannon appearing prominently from beneath the figurehead; a man bent forward beneath the weight of a large sphere on his back.

We all climbed aboard fairly quickly, getting the luggage stowed away before returning to the deck, where Archie quickly directed us so we could get underway.

All preparations made, I grabbed the anchor's chain and lifted it from the water, coiling the chain around my arm to be properly returned to the winch later and feeling my thoughts drift back to an incident several months ago...

* * *

 _Flashback~_

 _I cracked my neck with a slight wince and a grunt, rotating my shoulders and stretching my arms to work all the kinks out of my bones. I'd been up on the hill almost all day working on my Magic, and the considerable amount of time I had spent floating cross-legged in the air had left me with my fair share of stiffness._

 _As I approached town, I began to hear yelling - panicked yelling. Quickly breaking free of the minor fog that been clouding my brain in the wake of my long day, I shifted into a run, lessening my own weight almost instinctively as I went tearing down the streets._

 _A lot of people were running in the opposite direction, I now realised - that, or barricading themselves in their homes, fear seemingly omnipresent. As I got closer to the harbour, it seemed that the flood of people began to lessen - but without the clamour of their voices, I could hear ringing steel and angry yells._

 _My eyes narrowed._ 'Pirates.'

 _My run hit a new tempo, and I switched tracks - going from following the streets to running diagonally up the face of a nearby house, reaching the roof and continuing my journey along the Thief's Highway. Going as the crow flew, I was within eye's view of the harbour soon enough, and I could see the Guard spread out along its length, most of the guardsmen embroiled in individual battles._

 _Several of the captains and crews of the other vessels docked in the port were also joining the defence against the flood of almost stereotypically ill-kept men pouring from a Ship o' the Line class vessel in the bay; some seemed to be falling from the sky while others were approaching by boat or through the water. That meant they ship had at least one resident Mage - perhaps as many as two or even four, going by the variety of techniques on show and discounting what could be replicated with magical items._

 _I considered my options, quickly. I had Shinra Tensei, Bansho Ten'in, Gravity Hammer and Inversion. I had yet to the get the hang of flight (or, rather, landing), Bespoke Arms was still a definite work in progress, and my experiences to date had showcased what happened when an unarmed amateur went up against an armed amateur - assuming that the pirates, motley crew that they were, hadn't developed some skill with their chosen weapons over time._

 _Unfortunately, while using Bansho Ten'in to nick one of the pirates' weapons wouldn't be that difficult, I had proven to be a...less than stellar swordsman._

 _Branston had made an effort to teach me the rudimentary stances and forms, but after the fifth incident where I nearly beheaded myself, lost my grip on the blade and very nearly cost the Captain one of his appendages, we had reached the unanimous decision that I was deadlier to myself and my allies than to any enemy with a weapon in my hands._

 _My eyes ran over the harbour once more, seeking anything that would serve as a supplement to my Magic...and my eyes alighted on the chain leading down from the Ship o' the Line's nose._

 _I gauged the distance, knowing that it was too far for a Bansho Ten'in...but then I recalled something I'd seen in Archie's office during my first meeting with him, and I quickly started hopping away toward the building._

 _It was the work of moments to rush in through the door and manoeuvre my way past the various paraphernalia to reach my target, wrapping my fingers around the main haft and coursing my Magic through the object, reducing its weight to nil as I shouldered my impromptu tool and scarpered back out the door._

 _Climbing up onto the roof of the building, I narrowed my eyes at the ship which was my target and took a deep breath - then, I put both hands on the length of chain looped through the head of the anchor I had borrowed from the Harbour Master, and began to spin it above my head._

 _It didn't take long for the length of metal to blur into a solid disc of grey above me. Once I had the rotational velocity, I built up one of the gravitational corridors I'd been experimenting with lately directly in front of me, lowered my own weight to just as little as the anchor in my hands, and muttered a quick prayer to whatever deity happened to be laughing their arse off at me during that particular moment before releasing the chain with one hand and holding on for dear life._

'Now I understand why Thor was such an idiot in the stories.' _I idly thought to myself as the world whipped past me, the wooden planks of the pirate ship growing rapidly larger in my vision._ 'Flying like this dragged all his brains down to his other he-'

 _At that point, my journey concluded in a massive explosion of splinters and disintegrating plant matter, though I accomplished my goal - I now had one hand wrapped around the chain for Archie's collector's edition anchor, and the other around the chain for this ship's own anchor._

 _Taking a moment to catch my breath, my magical power rushed through my latest acquisition. Then, I retreated back through the gaping hole I'd made in the side of the ship's nose, dragging an anchor in either hand as I ran up the side of the vessel, landing on the railing around the top-deck and meeting the eyes of the various pirates who had gathered on the deck for launch, all of whom were either in the process of widening their eyes or bringing their weapons to bare._

 _Adrenaline shot through me and twisted my mouth into a teeth-baring smile of anticipation, while my Magic's potency grew in leaps and bounds, flaring into purple-black light that fluttered around me like flames, burning along the chains in my hands and giving them an ethereal aesthetic._

 _I really wanted to make a quip right about then, but unfortunately nothing suitable came to mind. So, instead, I made do with throwing the ship's own anchor forward as hard as I possibly could._

 _More than a few pirates were in the way of the hurtling metal, but it didn't slow for them - not even when it hit the cabin at the rear of the ship. Instead, it went as far as the chain would go before snapping taut, only the superb construction practices that Earthland had access to preventing the winch-base for the chain itself from ripping straight out of the deck._

 _As the pirates scrambled out of the way of the anchor's path even after it had passed, parting like the red sea even as others brought guns to bear or brandished melee weapons, I took off running down the path of the chain, almost blurring as my Magic pulled me onward. The disoriented men who were recovering from getting out of the anchor's way provided a buffer against the more sensate members of the crew, though several of the pirates started coming to their senses and swinging at me. Thankfully, an anchor was a weapon which required much less finesse than any blade._

'You spin me right round baby, right round like a record baby, round round round round...' _I thought to myself, humming under my breath as I spun the anchor around me like a ballerina might wave a ribbon (probably - I had no real idea), hurling unwashed bodies into the air wherever I passed, screams resounding as I wondered what this must look like from the shore._

 _I reached the other anchor quickly enough and took a deep breath - this was the part I was least certain about, but I felt like I had to try._

 _I grabbed the anchor from the pile of splinters and groaning bodies it was lying in, then quickly returned to the hole in the cabin wall before running straight up, reaching the roof and once more finding the limit of the chain. Then, I closed my eyes and began to focus._

 _I wobbled quite badly as I began to rise from the deck, but oddly enough having the anchors helped out a lot - by keeping a grip on one with either hand, I could use their balanced weight to keep myself oriented properly without needing the usual six points gravitational attraction and thus spare my concentration._

 _As I rose, I pumped out more and more magical power - spreading it as wide as I possibly could through the ship, sinking it into every plank and knot, every rope and sail, grabbing hold of the keel, the weight of the entire assembly dropping low - but not nearly as low as my reserves of magical power. I felt a splitting headache coming on as bone-deep fatigue radiated from my everything, offering the oh-so-tempting peace of restful oblivion..._

 _But I had the cure for that. Whenever I wanted to rest, whenever I felt too pushed, whenever the going got really tough like this..._

 _I remembered Heather. And suddenly, my struggle was nothing._

 _It started by millimetres - then, growing to centimetres, to metres, the acceleration of my magic and the pull on the anchor combining to slowly but surely drag the ship's nose out of the water, sloping the entire vessel and sending pirates tumbling every which way, what shots anyone managed to get off in the chaos going miles wide as the pirates proved they had at least_ some _sense by not trying to cast spells or use magical items in the chaotic press-gang of bodies that had consumed the deck._

 _I got the ship to a good sixty-degree angle before I found my limit - before it wasn't a matter of mental fortitude any more but simply the constraints of my own capabilities making themselves known. For a few moments, panic began to buzz through me, below the level of my memory-induced determination but slicing easily through my fatigue..._

 _Then, I remembered that I had two anchors._

 _Archie's anchor dropped like a meteor from my hand, crashing into the ship's stern and taking with it all the magical power I could possibly spare just as I emptied my reserves into one more massive_ pull-

 _And the last thirty degrees didn't stand a chance._

 _As I went flipping through the air, having lost my grip on the anchor after reaching the tipping point, the delirium that usually comes when vision begins to grey out tossed up a line that pulled at the corners of my lips._ 'It's not quite suplexing a train...but it's something. Still, I wonder if this flipping thing will become a habit...'

 _Then I hit the water, and that was that._

* * *

 _Back to the Present~_

I paused for a moment, blinking. "Son of a bitch."

Archie looked over to me from where he was getting us out to sea, cocking a questioning eyebrow as I let out a low sigh that sounded more like a growl. In answer to his unasked question, I said, "I just figured out where that slaver bastard got that blasted nickname."

The massive captain blinked a couple of times, then let out his signature rumbling laugh. "So ye finally picked up on that, did ye? Ah 'ad a bet runnin' wi' the Cap'n 'bout 'ow long it'd take ye - ah suppose this means a win fer me!"

I raised a questioning eyebrow of my own, and a devilish glint appeared in the old man's eye. "It wis a simple enough bet...would ye figure 't out afore or after ye'd tied the knot."

My raised eyebrow twitched dangerously, and I scowled at the septuagenarian as he once more burst into laughter. I turned away and stomped up to the forward deck before leaning forward on the railing there, letting out a settling breath and closing my eyes as I worked my Magic into the wooden rail beneath my hands, feeling the wind on my face as we started to get going properly.

 _'It's pretty incredible, how much easier it is to do something like this only a few months after that day.'_ I noted, feeling how easily I subsumed the ship, how much more magical power I still had in me. _'With this rate of improvement, I might even manage to keep up with everyone else...'_

A few minutes later, I felt someone walk up and stand beside me. Opening my eyes revealed Lucy, smiling a little as she perched on the rail, glancing back over her shoulder at the sea in front of us before turning to look at me.

"Archie gave us the story behind that nickname you mentioned," she commented, prompting me to let out another groan. The Celestial Spirit Mage giggled to herself, shaking her head before looking at me once more. "You know, the more I think about it, the less it seems like you were just an ordinary shopkeeper when I met you." Lucy commented, eyeing me with - not quite suspicion, but certainly curiosity.

I shifted under her gaze, but found myself without a response when Archie laughed again, apparently able to hear us even from the midship where he was standing. "An ordinary shopkeeper? Lass, that's Hargeon's Planetary Anchor - 'e beat off more Dark Mages 'nd bandits in th' past six months than the entirety o' the town guard managed in th' past six years!"

My teammates (except Natsu - or he might have been; since he was hanging off the side of the ship, I couldn't be sure) blinked rapidly, turning to look at me with more than one raised eyebrow. "He's exaggerating," I assured them, sticking my hands in my pockets. "And besides, most of them were only there because of my jumped-up reputation."

Lucy blinked a few more times, then something seemed to _click_ behind her eyes. " _That's_ it!" She exclaimed, clapping her hands together and drawing startled looks from the others. " _That's_ why everyone we passed in Hargeon seemed to know you by sight; all the nods and thank yous...you were their very own town hero, weren't you?"

I let out a grumbling sigh, reaching up to scratch the back of my head and looking away, feeling my cheeks flush red a bit. As I did so, a smile spread wide across Lucy's face before she began to first chuckle, then laugh properly, then grab her stomach and bend over as she emptied her lungs in mirth, falling off her perch on the rail and nearly rolling onto the deck. "What's so funny?" I grumbled, glaring at her from where I was wrapping my duster tighter, wishing I could disappear inside it.

"You..." Lucy gasped, still bent double. "The shyest person I know...with an entire town idolising you!"

The Celestial Spirit Mage kept on laughing, hands wrapped around her stomach and tears in her eyes. Gray picked up on the chuckle as well, followed by Natsu and Happy - Erza, at least, just nodded and offered an approving smile. "Using your gifts to aid others is always a worthy pursuit," she declared, hands on her hips. "You should be proud, Declan."

I let out another long sigh, offering the redhead a wan smile before turning back to Lucy, whose laughter was finally calming down, and posing a question that had me somewhat confused. "If you hadn't figured out why I got all that attention before, why did you _think_ I got it?"

The blonde wiped a final tear away from her eye, abruptly flushing scarlet from more than just laughter. "Well, I...uh...I kinda thought it was because of your father."

I blinked. Once. Twice. Then, I reached up and slapped myself above either ear, shook my head, and rubbed my eyes before looking at Lucy again. "I'm sorry...what was that?"

Lucy blinked herself, shuffling in place, obviously not expecting the disbelieving stare I was pinning her with. "Um...your dad? You know, the guard captain?"

I blinked again. "Captain Branston?"

"Um...the one who saw us off from Hargeon?"

I stared. "So, you thought that Captain Branston was my father? And _that_ was why I got all that attention in Hargeon?"

Lucy, who had gone bright red, shuffled in place before nodding. "Um...yes?"

I stared for a few more seconds, and she finally burst out, "Well why else would he give me that...that _talk_ before we left Hargeon that first time?!"

I kept staring, before just closing my eyes, lowering my face into my hands, and letting out a small groan. "Oh, God dammit..."

* * *

While the two 'smart' members of the team were talking, Erza was watching with a smile - one that slowly curved into a frown. "Somehow, I get the impression that we forgot something..."

* * *

 _Back in the Village..._

"Lyon, you're sure this is the correct course of action to take?"

Yuka seemed a touch apprehensive as he addressed his leader, the white-haired man dressed in his 'Reitei' getup sans helmet, with a plaster over the bridge of his nose and one of his arms in a sling. The two men, plus Sherry, Toby and the crowd of other Mages they'd brought with them to the island, were walking down to the village, so that Lyon could speak with the Mayor.

"I am, Yuka." The Ice Mage confirmed, trying not to listen too closely to Sherry, who was switching back and forth between declaring bloody vengeance on Gray and on the highly unorthodox Air Mage that had been accompanying him - for their parts in injuring Lyon and the giant mouse Angelica, respectively.

He knew that the young woman had a few... _quirks,_ likely left over from her own Deliora-induced experiences; all of the people with him did, from Toby's unusual dog fixation to Yuka's habit of growing his eyebrows until they covered an inhumanly high percentage of his forehead's surface area. But still, hers seemed a touch more... _extreme_ , than most.

Idly, he wondered if finding a psychologist might not be another good reason to join a Guild somewhere. In his newly-discovered state of induced apathy, he realised that his actions of the past several years were best described as... _questionable -_ legally, morally and logically.

Shaking off his thoughts, the Ice Mage continued. "The Moon Drip lens shattering and the sudden exultation at the village last night were obviously linked; that means our ritual was having some kind of effect on the villagers, one that they were happy to have reversed. If we're going to be going on the straight and narrow, we can start by making an apology."

"Yes..." Sherry muttered, still speaking under her breath, a wild look in her eyes. "Straight and narrow, like Cupid's arrow _plunging into their hearts and tearing the souls from their bodies so I can feed their worthless corpses to my gallant hunter -_ "

The young woman abruptly stopped for several seconds, then reached up and grabbed her own head, letting loose a muffled scream. _"No! Nonono! Not feed to her, not corpses, scavengers eat corpses, Angelica isn't a scavenger! She's a gallant hunter, not a scavenger!"_

Lyon - and, indeed, everyone else in the proximity of Sherry - took a rather large step in the direction that would take them the furthest away from the woman, as they had whenever she got like this since they left the temple that morning.

There was already a two-metre-radius circle of clear space around her.

"No, don't feed their corpses to Angelica..." She muttered, eyes twitching. "No - let Angelica hunt them, let her gallant nature overcome them, then I can take their flesh and cook it; yes, yes, cook for Lord Lyon..."

The white-haired man gulped, and resolved to never again touch anything Sherry had had a hand in cooking.

At that point, they reached the village, and after a quick petition of the gate guards, they were invited inside.

Most of the group hesitated at the gates, whether from guilt or apprehension.

Sherry had no such hang-ups, instead continuing forward quickly, eager to follow her Lord Lyon's wish to make amends with the villagers...

And as such, she was the one who fell into the massive pit-trap right in front of the gates, which the Fairy Tail team had all been carefully avoiding at the direction of the villagers and which had thus gone untriggered since its excavation.

The various Mages of Lyon's group glanced at one another, then shuffled forward and peered over the edge of the pit, looking down to where Sherry was lying insensate on a cushioning platform of leaves and sand, alive and largely unharmed but, for the second time in as many days, knocked completely out of it.

Lyon, Yuka and Toby all looked at the hole, then back to one another. "I think," Lyon began, speaking carefully. "That at the moment, Sherry is under a lot of stress. As such, letting her rest for a while seems like the best decision. For the sake of her health, of course."

"Indeed," Yuka nodded. "And also, that hole is rather deep; I believe we'll need to request the villagers' assistance in reclaiming her, and for that we must first make amends - a process which may take some time."

"Quite some time." Lyon confirmed, stepping carefully around the edges of the pit as he approached the growing crowd of inhuman villagers with a short demon at their head.

* * *

 _Late Afternoon that day, in Magnolia..._

We'd said farewell to Archie back in Hargeon, the old man entreating us to stop by if we were in the area again, before catching the train back into Magnolia - we'd lucked out on the timing for that, so we got back to the city fairly quickly.

Walking the streets toward the Guild, Lucy once more started cradling Sagittarius' Key, leading to Natsu, Happy and Gray all making attempts to guess what Sagittarius himself would look like - including one rather vivid description of some kind of plant monster that came straight out of left field.

I didn't get involved. Partly because I already knew that, despite Lucy being the expert on Celestial Spirits and having made the educated assumption that Sagittarius would be a Centaur (body of a horse, but with the neck and up replaced by the abdomen-and-up of a human man), Natsu's description of a man's body with a horse's head was actually the more accurate of the guesses.

But also partly because I was watching the people around us.

I could see the whispering groups, the way they glanced at us, the fearful gazes intermingled with pity. I let out a long sigh, and a glance beside me showed that Erza had noticed as well - she wasn't exactly subtle with the way she would pin groups with her stare, freezing them in place like deer in the headlights before Titania's gaze moved past them.

Perhaps our rising tension leaked into the air, because the jovial atmosphere around Lucy, Natsu, Gray and Happy lessened with each step closer we got to the Guild, their happy voices and energetic movements becoming more controlled, their own gazes beginning to slide around, the group drawing closer, as they might if we were in hostile territory.

Then we reached the Guild - and all that caution blazed into burning life at the sight of Fairy Tail, standing but only barely, impaled with iron columns that could have been used as the foundation for a skyscraper beyond anything seen on Earthland before.

 _"Who did this...?!"_ Natsu hissed, his voice low and oddly sibilant, the air temperature around him rising so rapidly that, when it met the now below-zero air surrounding Gray, the combination began to kick up a wind.

I just stared, and felt the discontent that stirred in my chest, a slow burn that translated into a grimace.

 _'I suppose it's that time...'_ I let out a deep breath, firming my conviction and feeling my fists clench. _'Phantom Lord...Gajeel...let's see how far I am from where I need to be.'_

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **I originally had a whole few paragraphs where Archie related a somewhat different story to the team; then I realised that the vast majority of people outside of Scotland would probably have major issues reading him, so I turned it into a flashback. Hopefully it was the right decision.**

 **In the proud tradition of This Bites!, I have decided that to add a little something extra to this story, I'd make more use of certain characters - thus, you can expect the Vanish Brothers and Sherry to make themselves known in the future. (Also, if anyone** _doesn't_ **know where I'm getting inspiration from Sherry for...I envy you. I truly, truly envy you.)**

 **This story has been getting a great deal of support, especially for an SI/OC fic in a section that's chock full of sub-standard examples of the genre. So, THANK you everybody who has left a review encouraging me to keep going, or who has added this story to their follows or favourites - those arbitrary numbers make me smile whenever I read them.**

 **AngelFaux, though you may not log in to do so, your consistent reviewing always makes me smile - thank you, and long may you continue to enjoy my work!**

 **Ibn, as another dedicated yet seemingly rather shy reader - your support means a lot, and I hope I can keep your interest as time goes on.**

 **Zeru'Xil, I feel like this is partly your fault - but at the same time, I am just as responsible. May we both got to that special hell for trolls and harem protagonists.**

 **Ragna, sorry it took a while to get back to you, but with the amount of fun I'm having writing this I might well do something similar in the future - time will tell, but I have a few ideas; one of them has been planned out on my profile, if you want to take a look, so feel free to tell me what you think of that.**

 **I'd also like to give thanks to HelpfulNudge and OutOfReality08, two of the most dedicated reviewers to the story, who let me know I'm on the straight and narrow; but above all, I would like to thank kallin22, whose knowledge, positivity and enthusiasm are a part of what makes writing this story so fun.**

 **Thank you all so much for the support you've given me, and I hope I can continue to earn it. 'Till next time,**

 **-Teninshigen**


	13. XII - Core Temperature

In the midst of the rising winds that Natsu and Gray were generating, and under the pressure of their combined magical power, Erza stared at the remains of Fairy Tail, her features not betraying what I imagined was the true depth of her emotional state. Still...the persistent sensation of some massive creature towering above us, staring down and searching for a target, weighed on all of us.

"What happened here...?" She asked, almost whispering, though it didn't detract from the force in her voice.

"Phantom Lord."

Our group turned around, finding the source of the new voice to be Mirajane, one fist clenched over her heart, her face turned down and away as she bit her lip. "It's mortifying..." She continued, her hand clenching tighter. "But...they got us."

I turned back around to look at the almost-demolished Guild building, which was probably only standing because the massive iron columns which had destroyed its supporting structures hadn't been moved. Still, the walls had fallen down in some places and buckled in others, the terraces which hung from each level were shattered and drooping, and there wasn't a glass window to be seen.

The entrance was badly damaged too and, as I approached, I stepped over the snapped wooden sign which bore the name of our Guild. As I did so, I felt a shiver run up my spine, down into my fists and resonating out through my Magic. I grimaced for a moment, and felt the smouldering burn in my chest glow a little brighter - but it passed, and I set to work.

With the weight of the debris reduced to nil, clearing the entrance to the Guild was easy enough; I kept on doing so, widening the makeshift path which had been made in the detritus as I followed it toward the stairs which lead down into the basement, my teammates and Mirajane following behind - each silently keeping their own counsel as we moved forward.

Once we descended the stairs, we became the immediate focus of attention - and there was quite a lot of attention, as it seemed all of Fairy Tail were crammed into the sub-level.

There were angry, buzzing conversations going on everywhere - much like a kicked hive, the Guild Mages were entirely prepared to swarm out and start retaliating for the attack on their home...though, I'd rather slather myself in honey and jump into a pit of African Killer Bees than face down Fairy Tail.

Phantom Lord, however, didn't have my common sense, and the backlash which was building up in this confined space was only growing as time passed; dozens of magical signatures were filling the space - not pressing against one another, but rather building on one another, growing stronger through a shared purpose like a feedback loop just _waiting_ to hit critical.

Well...every signature save one.

Master Makarov raised one hand happily as we hoved into view, his other hand grasping a tankard of what was probably mead, ale or beer (I couldn't tell the difference), eyes closed and a smile on his face. "Ah, welcome back kids! How'd your mission go?"

Erza inclined her head. "We were successful, Master - the job was completed without my assistance being required."

The Master's smile widened, and he laughed. "I'm glad to hear it! Well, Natsu, I guess that's you one step closer to the second floor!" He paused, then laughed again. "Well, as soon as we rebuild it that is!"

Natsu, who had been shaking in place with his fists clenched, snapped at that moment. "GRAMPS!" He yelled, smashing his fists down on the surface of the bar, raising varnish and wooden chips. "HOW CAN YOU JOKE ABOUT THIS?!"

Erza, despite her impressive self-control, let her mask slip a fraction - her hair waved slightly of its own volition, light bending strangely to paint her face in shadows, highlighting the harsh edges of her features. "Master." She growled, her sentences clipped as if she were keeping her tongue on a leash. "Your response to this situation seems highly inappropriate!"

The elderly man opened his eyes, letting out a long huff of breath as he looked he away, resting his head in one hand. "It's not something you should get so worked up over, you know?" He complained. "Just calm down, will ya?"

Natsu and Erza stared incredulously at the old man, while Gray and Lucy did much the same. I, already knowing the Master's view on the matter and agreeing with it, no matter the coals in my chest, took the time to glance around - looking for three people in particular.

"Well it was Phantom Lord, wasn't it?" The Guild Master explained, taking a long swig from his tankard. "Those idiots won't take this any further." He shrugged. "Hell, all they did this time was attack an empty Guild, for whatever reason..."

The man took another long drink, while my teammates blinked and parsed the new information. "An empty Guild?" Erza asked, prompting Mirajane to speak up from behind us.

"Yes," she agreed. "The attack came in the middle of the night, when no one was around."

 _'No one was around?'_ I thought to myself, glancing at Master Makarov where he was wiping a foam moustache away from his real facial hair. _'Except doesn't the Master live in the building?'_

I knew Laxus wasn't around - I was fairly sure he lived in the Guild building as well - but there was no reason for me to assume that Master Makarov wasn't in the building when the attack took place.

Makarov's eyes abruptly turned to meet mine, the carefree mischief and drunken haze that he'd been affecting before evaporating for a split-second - revealing an almost sadistic smirk, and a dark twinkle in his eye.

 _'So that's it...'_ I realised, even as the facade fell into place once more, before anyone else could notice its absence. _'If they knew he was in there, then he's sent the message that Phantom's attack was so far beneath his notice, he didn't even bother to stop it.'_

Sure, from another perspective it made it look like Makarov was too weak to defend his own Guild...but then again, Fairy Tail didn't seem to care much what people thought of them. Not their enemies, not the public, not the Magic Council. Fairy Tail Mages were free spirits, unbound by the perceptions of others, and Makarov had said all he needed to without lifting a finger.

I inclined my own head slightly to the Guild Master. I had to - there was no way I could do anything but show the respect he was due. There weren't a great many people in the world who were so willing to blaze a path wholly for themselves, disregarding anything that would try to tie them down. _'It's no wonder Fairy Tail is like it is - not with a leader like him. It's a Will of Fire - or maybe just charisma.'_

One way or another, though, it was assurance - because the blazing path that Makarov Dreyer forged, and the myriad other roads leading from it that were Fairy Tail, would lead me to my answer. I could _feel_ it.

"I see..." Erza heaved a sigh of relief, slumping slightly. "So, no one was hurt...we got lucky."

Makarov chuckled again, waving one hand back and forth as if wafting something away. "There's no point bothering with people who just launch sneak attacks; leave them be."

Natsu, who had been staring in frank disbelief at his Guild Master, abruptly burst into flames - varnish melted from the bar-top as the wood beneath his hands began the transition to charcoal, flaming wisps issuing from around his fanged teeth as an orange glow shone from his open mouth. _"I CAN'T ACCEPT THAT!"_ He declared, slamming his fists onto the bar once more, this time hard enough for me to feel the impact through my feet even two metres away. _"I WON'T BE ABLE TO REST UNTIL I'VE SMASHED THEM INTO PIECES!"_

Makarov waited calmly for the Dragon Slayer's panting to settle into normal breathing, the orange flames dying down as Natsu got himself back under control, before speaking again. "This discussion is over." He stated, his tone brooking no disagreement, his eyes boring straight into Natsu's. "Until the first floor is fixed, we'll be taking Jobs from the board down here."

Natsu growled again. "Dammit Gramps, we don't have time to be doing jobs!"

The old man growled right back. "I said, _end of discussion!_ Now cut it out Natsu!"

For emphasis, Makarov slapped his hand down on the table a couple of times - just in case he got any funny ideas, I had made sure I was standing beside Lucy, meaning he would have to pass his arm through me in order to reach her.

I might respect the old man, but like Hell was I gonna just stand by and let him feel up my partner.

When Natsu bit back his anger once more, Makarov's features abruptly twisted, and he hopped down from the ruined counter to hop off into the crowded room, muttering that he needed to take a leak.

The Dragon Slayer stared after the Guild Master, his features a twisted mess of anger and grief. "Gramps..." He muttered, barely loud enough to be heard. "How can you be so calm about this...?"

Mirajane, who had moved to stand behind the bar, spoke up. "I'm sure the Master is just as shocked as the rest of us, Natsu - but the Magic Council forbids inter-Guild warfare; even if he wanted to, there's nothing he could do."

A low, rumbling growl issued from Natsu's throat; a sound I might have expected from a true Dragon rather than a teenager. "But they attacked _us!_ "

The silver-haired bartender shook her head. "But that doesn't change the fact that our hands are tied. We can petition the Magic Council to investigate the attack, but that's all."

Erza let out a breath through gritted teeth, lowering her head slightly. "If this is how the Master feels about it... Then we'll just have to accept that."

Natsu blew out another angry breath, while behind him Gray let out a 'tch' and turned his head away, teeth visibly gritted. Beside me, Lucy gripped her left elbow with her right hand, looking down and away much as Mirajane had done when she met us at the front of the building - and on the floor beside us, Happy clasped his hand in front of him, eyes watering.

I watched them all, then let out a little sigh as I crouched down, running one hand over the crown of Happy's head as I used to do for my own cat. _'Should I say something?'_ I wondered. _'...No. No, I'd better not. Even if I let them know Makarov is playing a different game than they can see, it'll just backfire when Phantom come for us. Besides, if they only have this much faith in the old man, I'm betting it has to be because that's the way he wants it - why, I'm not sure, but one way or another, best to keep my mouth shut.'_

When Happy had stopped sniffling, and instead pushed his head into my hand, I scratched him behind the ear a couple of times before straightening and placing a hand on Lucy's shoulder. "It's been a long day," I noted, garnering my teammates' attention. "So how about we head home? In the morning, we can get to work on fixing up the Guild building - but for now, I think everyone could use some time to think."

Erza glanced around as I spoke, taking in the others, before letting out a breath - below my hand, Lucy's shoulder fell a bit, then rose as she did something similar. "A sound idea, Declan." The redhead agreed. "However, until we are sure that Phantom Lord will not make a repeat performance, I would suggest that no member of the Guild travel alone."

"Hmph - I guess that works," Natsu agreed, still clenching and relaxing his fists at intervals. "We can all crash at Lucy's tonight, then."

The Celestial Spirit Mage's expression shifted to pure horror as Gray and Erza both nodded their agreement, and quickly turned to look at me, pleading with her eyes. "Declan, _help!"_

I chuckled, although since Erza had made her recommendation, I had remembered what I was looking for before I had caught Makarov's eye. Thus, I was scanning the room, with my eyes and with my Magic, hoping I would find a certain trio of Mages.

My lack of success was...disturbing, and I was itching to take off running.

"Well, how about Erza stays at Lucy's place?" I suggested. "It's meant to be a one-person apartment, after all - I guess mine is as well, but I have less stuff, so Natsu and Gray could crash with me easily enough."

Erza didn't see a problem with my suggestion, and both Gray and Natsu shrugged - it seemed they weren't all that bothered. "Right then!" I clapped my hands together, offering a smile that probably didn't reach my eyes. "Then you guys get going, and I'll meet you there - I just want to pick something up from the market before I head home." I could see Erza narrowing her eyes, and quickly waved my hands in front of me. "I'll go fast and by air, Erza - there aren't that many flyers around, so that should be more than enough to keep me out of trouble."

I smiled again, but when the redhead's eyes - and Lucy's too - simply narrowed further, I decided that I still needed to practice forming facial expressions on command. Still, Titania nodded, if grudgingly. "Very well, Declan - but be swift."

I inclined my head to the S-Class Mage, then quickly turned and jogged up the stairs, throwing a quick wave over my shoulder as I headed up to the first floor.

Once I was there, I didn't bother running; I just flung myself forward, shooting out the front door and then curving up into the sky, where I took a moment to orient myself - the sun was beginning to set now, and so I knew which way West was. From what I could tell, Earthland's mass, solar orbit, lunar orbit and rotation were all either identical to Earth's or as close as made no difference; so, turning ninety degrees to my right, I took off for the edge of Magnolia, scanning the ground below with my eyes and reaching out to touch it with my Magic, seeking the green of a park or the familiar magical signatures of Shadow Gear.

 _'I didn't think of it before...but in the manga, when Mirajane finds the Galuna Island Job missing, Shadow Gear are at the Guild. That means they probably_ weren't _on a job while we were gone - and if that's the case, but they weren't in the Guild building just now...'_

I grimaced, pouring a bit more magical power into my flight, the Magic that Tanner had worked into my coat parting the winds around me to keep them from stealing my breath. I felt my eyes begin to water a bit as I strained them, knowing that by now I was almost to the city's edge. _'Come on, Levy...'_ I thought to myself, closing my eyes for a moment in an effort to better focus on my magical senses. _'Show me where you are...'_

For a few seconds, all I could feel was the kaleidoscopic, confusing medley of magical signatures that rose from the dozens, if not hundreds, of magical appliances that Magnolia's residents made so much use of, each home sporting a number that clouded any attempt at finding one signature in particular. Then, I latched onto something different...but it was _not_ Levy's Magic; nor was it Jet's, or Droy's.

I felt my jaw clench as my senses were almost completely subsumed by cold iron, the rattle of armoured scales, the warmth of blood dripping from an open wound, the instinctive, primal fear of standing before a predator.

 _'Dragon. Gajeel._

 _...Shit.'_

My horizontal journey instantly transitioned into a gradient, and I poured on more and more speed as I homed in on the colossal magical signature that had so succeeded in getting my attention.

I just hoped I wasn't going to be too late.

* * *

 _Several Minutes Earlier, Magnolia Southern Entrance Park_

 **"Falcon Heavenward!"**

Cloaked in green magical power, Jet hurtled over the ground of the park, speeding towards his opponent. Already his outfit bore signs of the abuse said opponent had been laying on him and his teammates - tears and abrasions abounded, and blood had soaked through in one or two locations. Still, he didn't let it slow him down as he attacked, bringing his leg around to collide with his opponent's torso - only to find that, like every time he came in to attack, his opponent had already moved a limb into the path of his kick.

The ginger Mage grimaced as he felt the already-bruised limb shudder once more under the impact - one which did far more damage to the attacker than the defender.

What else was to be expected, though, when his opponent's body was seemingly iron all the way through?

Jet quickly threw himself backwards, grimacing once more as a massive metal column extended through the space where his torso had been a moment before, like a tree growing at hundreds of times its normal pace, following the motions of the arm to which it was attached.

The High-Speed Magic user rolled to his feet, skipping back to stand just in front of his teammates, both of them breathing heavily, as the iron club retracted into its progenitor's arm, the bastard still smiling that manic smile of his.

Jet wasn't entirely sure who it was they were facing. His hair was black and his eyes were red, with the former running in a spiky mass down to the middle of his back. There were iron studs along his eyebrows and down his nose, on his chin and in his forearms, as well as in his ears. There was yet more iron in his gloves; riveted plates on the backs of his hands, with riveted bands around his wrists. The rest of his outfit was dark boots, again with riveted plates on the inward-facing portions of the heels, into which were tucked baggy brown trousers with large, rough stitches holding them together. Over them was worn a black coat, torn and ragged at the bottom hem, which closed at the bastard's waist and up, held that way with a grey, riveted belt.

He was, quite simply, metal as all Hell - figuratively and literally.

Jet frowned to himself - he might have taken one too many knocks to the head during this fight.

One way or another, their enemy barely seemed to notice any of what they tried to do to him. He took all of Jet's attacks without flinching or even bruising; Droy's plants either failed to so much as nudge him, or were torn apart by iron blades before they could fulfil their purpose. And Levy, despite throwing around **Fire** , **Rust** , **Melt** and other Magic Words, hadn't succeeded in doing any real harm - whatever iron was damaged, the enemy simply sloughed off and regenerated, laughing off everything else they tried. Even **Lightning** hadn't seemed to do any more than annoy him.

Shadow Gear were tired from the battle, almost magically exhausted, long out of tricks and sporting more injuries than they felt they'd accumulated over the rest of their lives combined. They weren't prepared for this - their team wasn't really _meant_ for combat. Yes, they could usually hold their own, but their skills had been developed largely for things like search and rescue, finding lost items and solving mysteries. Those were the jobs they took most often, and their ability to fight was largely self-defence.

Right now, they were regretting that.

"You fairies are even weaker than I'd expected," the bastard taunted them, his slit-pupil eyes and exposed fang-like teeth twisting his features beyond the human norm. "I don't know why the Hell the Master even thinks you lot are worth wiping out; I could do this in my sleep!"

Jet growled, as did Droy - Levy, though, simply flinched. She wasn't a natural combatant; she didn't enjoy fighting, or go out of her way to inflict harm. She was a researcher, a reader and a generally quiet person. Faced with a situation like this, where no matter what she thought of it simply bounced right off the opponent, she found her formidable mind was failing her. It was like she had tried to change gears on a bike, but the chain had slipped - cogs were turning, but they weren't actually _doing_ anything.

"Ah well." The... _creature_ shrugged, its monstrous red gaze sending a tremble down Levy's spine, while her teammates swallowed and prepared the last dregs of their magical power. "At least when they find you weaklings, I'll get to deal with all of you at once - maybe I'll actually break a sweat!"

The hollow, metallic laughter that followed was more discordant than fingernails on a chalkboard, or nails on glass; it grated on the ears and the soul, and Levy found herself pressing her hands to her ears, while her teammates shook their heads and winced, feeling the delicate sensory organs protesting the abuse being heaped upon them.

Still laughing, the iron monstrosity extruded more of the cold metal from its arms, the scales of its pseudo-flesh disappearing beneath the smooth, flowing cylinders that engulfed the hands and forearms. The cylinders quickly flattened and reformed, forming twin cutting edges and points that caught the sunlight; two multi-metre blades, connected directly to the juggernaut's arms, which it extended to its sides, crouching low - almost a twisted parody of someone awaiting a hug. "Now, you trash get out of my way so Phantom Lord can finally take its place at the top!"

The creature leaned forward, a plume of dirt rising behind it as it kicked off, and both male members of Phantom Lord moved themselves to stand in front of their teammate, one with his hands full of seeds and the other garbed in flickering green Magic, while behind them Levy opened her mouth to pronounce a Word -

Until something came flying from over their heads, fast enough to send them staggering in its wake, and collided with the incoming creature in a pressure wave that rocked Shadow Gear right off their feet, generating a sound like an entire ship's complement of cannons going off at once.

Dust and dirt rained down for several seconds, but cleared when Levy spoke up. **"Wind!"**

The letters appeared, hovering in the air for an instant before beginning a rapid rotation - quickly, the pollutants in the air were blown away, and Shadow Gear could examine the situation as they climbed to their feet.

In front of them was a crater, easily six metres in diameter and maybe half a metre deep. Leading away from it, forming a teardrop shape, was a long furrow in the grass - churned dirt, which had piled up into a heap behind the iron creature, where it was half-buried in the earthen hill formed when it was sent skidding across the park.

Facing it, breathing hard and shaking out his right hand, was Declan Ross.

The Gravity Mage glanced back over his shoulder, eyes flickering across each member of the exhausted team. Watching him, Levy could see relief in the way his shoulders slumped for a moment - but the way his fists clenched and the look he shot toward the mound of displaced earth in front of him was hardened resolve.

"Levy!"

The blunette straightened quickly, hearing the faintly accented voice of her Guild-mate as he spoke over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off the creature, which was trying to unbury itself. "Yes?"

"Take your teammates and go. Get back to the Guild, as fast as you can."

The Solid Script Mage opened her mouth, not knowing if she was going to protest or, if she was, what about - but she was interrupted when the Gravity Mage kept speaking. "Find the Master, and tell him that Phantom Lord weren't willing to let things rest with just our Guild building - that this isn't going to be limited to sneak attacks."

The Gravity Mage began to move forward, small chunks of dirt rising into the air around him as he moved, a coruscating purple-black aurora starting to drift away from him as his magical power rose to the surface. "And warn him - Aria of the Element Four can drain magical power; he's a teleporter and he can conceal his presence, too."

Levy frowned; why would Declan want the Master to know that specifically? And how did the Gravity Mage know that, if the Master himself didn't? Wouldn't the Master have the most knowledge of other Mages, being one of the Ten Wizard Saints and having friends and contacts in all the levels of the Magic Council? Still, before she could ask, he interrupted her _again_ \- as if he'd known that she would ask.

"I'll give you an explanation later, Levy - for now, you need to go."

The blunette hesitated for a moment longer, undecided, until the iron creature finally seemed to have enough of trying to lever itself out from inside a constantly-shifting prison, and simply pointed its arms back, extending long pillars of iron to propel itself forward - incidentally, right at Declan.

"GO!" The Gravity Mage yelled once more, before running forward, jumping as the two massively elongated iron columns came swinging in to crush him between them, rolling forward over the momentary platform they created and putting a hand on either side of the monster's head - then, continuing the roll, pulling the creature with him by the head and smashing it into the ground, its own weight providing enough force to send up a second plume of dirt.

Shadow Gear watched for a moment, half in awe and half grimacing at the idea of retreat, before Levy shook it off. "You heard him!" She yelled, turning and staring to run away from the park, despite the grimace that formed on her features. Running away was the right idea - none of her team could fight that thing, and if they tried to engage it alongside Declan they would get under each other's feet. Plus, someone had to get to the Guild and summon help - not to mention deliver the message to the Guild Master.

Jet and Droy, each grimacing just as much as she was, joined her a few moments later as they sprinted, ignoring their injuries as they made their way back to Fairy Tail as fast as their feet could carry them - making the same resolution as they went.

 _'This can't happen again; I can't be so weak that I have to run away. Somehow, some way...I will become strong enough that I won't have to be saved again.'_

* * *

 _The Present,_ _Back with Declan_

I took a leap backwards after planting Gajeel like some twisted parody of a vegetable, lowered gravity allowing me to cover more distance than even my bolstered leg muscles could have managed alone. The Dragon Slayer was back on his feet in moments, looking royally pissed - I imagined it must be Hell getting dirt out of all the crevices in those iron scales of his.

 _'He probably can't even take too deep a bath; he'd sink like a stone the moment he used his Magic. And since Dragon Slayer Magic is tied to the user's emotional state, all it would take is for him to stub his toe or something and he'd drown himself.'_

Well, actually there was probably no way that would happen - but I could think it, and no one could tell me otherwise.

"Gajeel Redfox," I said, watching as the...teen? Perhaps, but he seemed more like a young adult to me. Somewhere in the eighteen to twenty-two bracket, definitely. One way or another, he had gotten to his feet, teeth gritted and a furious glare fixed in place, directed straight at me. "This makes twice that you've tried and failed to hurt Fairy Tail."

The Dragon Slayer continued glaring. "The Hell do you mean?"

I shrugged apathetically, though I was keeping a sharp eye on him for any sudden movements. "Well, I mean you just let Shadow Gear go - and they're Fairy Tail's least combat-centric team, last I checked." I shook my head, feigning disappointment. "Plus, you couldn't even wreck a building properly! I mean honestly, the main structure is still largely intact, and your little pins are keeping the whole thing standing! One of Magnolia's largest buildings, and you can't even collapse the top floor."

I shook my head again. "After seeing Natsu in action, I was expecting better from a Dragon Slayer."

Gajeel kept right on glaring at me, and I could hear the squeal of metal-on-metal from where I was standing as he clenched his fists. "I was just gonna send a message with those three..." He growled, his voice grating and metallic - like he had a box of razorblades instead of a larynx. "But _you_ \- _you,_ I'm gonna _kill."_

I eyed him, keeping my expression bland and unimpressed. "Bring it, Dumb-bell."

A half-second later, an iron pillar the height and breadth of a bus barrelled past me as I lunged sideways, the wind from its passage breaking around my coat as it burrowed through the ground, eventually crashing into and straight through one of the wooden staircases which led to the top of the wall surrounding Magnolia.

 _'Welp. He brought it.'_

Bringing up my right arm, I started strafing sideways, calling **"Shinra Tensei!"** as I went. The rippling wave of force flattened the grass as it rushed toward the Dragon Slayer, but Gajeel just dug in his heels and weathered it - he grimaced, but evidently I hadn't managed to phase him.

 _'Right then - when in doubt, escalate, escalate, escalate.'_

I continued my run, firing off another pulse of force after an interval of five seconds. I was keeping count in my head, so it probably wasn't as exact as it would be if my spell actually _had_ a five-second cooldown - but if Gajeel was paying any attention between flinging pillars and spears of iron in my direction, then the artificial weakness should be good enough for him to try and exploit.

With each blast I raised the magical power I was imparting, and with each one Gajeel had to brace himself a bit more - something which was evidently pissing him off, as with each passing second the onslaught of metal he was launching just got worse.

Javelins that could have come straight out of Sparta, smaller knives and kunai interspersed and hidden in the shadows of larger weaponry, massive clubs and pillars; it was like a horizontal waterfall of metallic death, and I couldn't help but feel that even with Shinra Tensei and the circle I was running around the Dragon Slayer, my continued health was a matter of luck.

Deciding that my tactic simply wasn't working, I changed it up - when I launched my next Shinra Tensei, scattering the projectiles coming for me, I ran into the corridor I had just cleared, reaching out with my left hand as I did. **"Bansho Ten'in!"**

One of the larger clubs that the Dragon Slayer had disregarded launched itself from the ground and adhered to my palm, where I held it out diagonally to my side, leaving my right arm free to launch another Shinra Tensei when Gajeel corrected his aim, the Dragon Slayer having continued to follow the path I _had_ been following for a second after I had changed directions.

Closing the distance between us quickly, I angled the club attached to my left hand, then spun left in a full circle, dragging the length of metal behind me with as much torque as I could get behind it.

There was a massive _crash,_ and I lost my grip on the club - and a look at Gajeel showed that the Dragon Slayer had blocked the attack handily, and was now charging to get into CQC range.

I brought both my arms up, but the Dragon Slayer didn't bother evading - he just kept charging forward, and I realised just why when I loosed the most powerful Shinra Tensei I had yet.

The earth in front of me tore loose, there was a rush of air moving to fill the vacuum as my attack parted the atmosphere, and the spontaneous force slammed into Gajeel like a runaway train.

And he _ran straight through it._

I first realised that when his iron-scaled, magically-empowered fist slammed into my midsection, lifted me off my feet, and then flung me most of the length of the park, causing me to skip along the turf and dig a furrow remarkably similar to the one he himself had made not minutes before.

I lay there for half a second, just coming to terms with the new order of the universe and my place in it, before I made an attempt to roll to my feet - managing it, but only barely, as my abdomen flared up like a sun had been born in there.

A ginger prodding revealed that I had broken at least one rib - if I were any judge though, it was likely more than that. At the same time, I knew I was going to be bruised black after this, and that my intestines and other assorted organs weren't going to be thanking me any time soon.

 _'Before I got Magic, that probably would've killed me.'_

Still, I didn't have much time to run a damage assessment; Gajeel was still coming, apparently quite ready to follow through on his threat, and he had proven too damn strong for me to just blow away. _'Okay, new plan time - blunt force is somewhat effective, since he's basically wearing heavy armour - sure, it's better than any plate armour ever devised by man, but it's still just armour; he's still a human being under there.'_

Except, of course, he was a Dragon Slayer - and recalling how it felt to kick Natsu, I was inclined to believe that punching Gajeel was just _asking_ to break my hand. I was actually rather surprised that the palm-strike I'd delivered on entering the battlefield hadn't shattered my arm. _'Okay, blunt force trauma - but I can't deliver it personally, and Shinra Tensei is either too widely dispersed or just plain not strong enough to do the job._

 _'Inversion won't even touch him; neither will Bansho Ten'in. Gravity Hammer_ might _, but he'll just get right back up again.'_ I momentarily considered the possibility of channelling Tien Shinhan and pile-driving the Dragon Slayer repeatedly into an ever-deepening hole, but disregarded it - I didn't have the brute force required for that. I couldn't just layer a continuous downward pull on him either, since he'd shrug it off as easily as Inversion and Bansho Ten'in.

 _'Most of my techniques are useless. In fact, I can't really hurt him at all - the only thing I have on hand that_ could _hurt him is...'_

I blinked a couple of times, then felt a grin spreading across my features, even as it was twisted by the agonising shifting of bones and other assorted body parts in my midsection. As I did so, I started running forward to meet the incoming Dragon Slayer, doing my best to ignore my injuries - though I was well aware that every step prolonged the time I was going to have to spend recovering after this.

The furious Gajeel swung his right arm forward once more, going for the same under-the-ribs uppercut that he'd caught me with before - but this time, I was ready.

My left arm reached out and grabbed his fist, wrapping around the scaled hand. At the same time, I kicked out with my right foot, trapping his right foot and preventing him from taking a step forward to anchor his strike, augmenting my own weight to partially bury his foot in the earth. My target secured, I pulled his arm forward, causing the Dragon Slayer to overextend and start falling forward as I retrieved my leg-

And then, my right hand came up-and-over to hit him in the upper back with my best Gravity Hammer and a Shinra Tensei straight from my palm, accelerating my opponent hard enough that it probably would have broken any normal person's neck from whiplash...back on Earth, at least.

Here, it just buried him two feet in the ground with enough force to rock the park.

I grimaced at the sudden taste of copper in my mouth, and spat crimson as I stepped back quickly, one arm wrapping around my midsection as I grimaced, making sure to keep my eyes open despite the urge to close them - there was _no_ way Gajeel had gone down from that, but moving so quickly and stretching to keep his fall under control had stressed my fucked-up midsection.

While the Dragon Slayer was still buried, I cast my eyes around quickly, hoping for something I could use. Yes, I could hurt him with his own weight - but there was no way he'd let me get away with another move like that; not when he could just form blades all along his arms, or extrude a spear straight from his side to stab me in the heart.

Gajeel was any CQC fighter's ultimate nightmare - a living weapon, capable of being his own arsenal. The only reason I could even do this much was likely either inexperience or a lack of imagination on his part...unless it was actually a limitation of his Magic, but I didn't think I'd be so lucky.

Putting more distance between myself and the Gajeel-shaped hole in the ground, I kept my left arm wrapped around my middle as I made my way as quickly as I could to the large pile of dirt that had been kicked up during my opening salvo against Gajeel, pressing my palm to its surface and focussing, even as I strained my ears for the sound of Gajeel moving.

I got what I was expecting - with a curse that was as much roar as it was scream, the Iron Dragon Slayer exploded from the earth, his eyes manic and his iron scales caked with dirt. Not to mention his hair, which had been dyed earthen-brown, and would probably take him several hours to fix.

 _'The fact that ruining his hair is probably the longest-lasting injury I've inflicted on him so far is pretty fucking scary.'_ A part of me noted, likely either my Second Thoughts or my Third Thoughts - the rest of my was entirely focussed on surviving this battle, preferably in such a way as to come out ahead of Gajeel. _'Great job I'm doing so far - ribs busted, probably bone shards in my organs, I've got blood in my lungs somehow, and I'm pretty sure I shredded my hands.'_

An idle glance at my palms showed that, indeed, I had fucked up my hands too - probably in grabbing hold of Gajeel's scales which, now that I thought about it, was basically like putting my hands on a metallic belt-sander. _'I guess I just didn't notice, what with all the broken ribs.'_

Yup - definitely my Third Thoughts. By the time I reached my tertiary thought process, I was just a sarcastic asshole. Especially to myself.

 _'I really need to see a psychologist one of these days.'_

Gajeel locked onto me like a guided missile, hurtling in my direction just as the large pile of loose dirt beneath my palm shuddered, then pulled inward and upward, rapidly going from a formless lump to a perfect sphere, its diameter shrinking for a few seconds until what I had attached to my hand was, effectively, a somewhat undersized stone wrecking ball.

I brandished the sphere, which was as large as my torso even under compression, and began to swing it back, to go up and over my head.

I'd never make it; Gajeel was coming too fast, a blade formed from his arm, the keen edge already seeking my side. He'd be in range in seconds, whereas it would take me almost as long to complete my attack - and mine wasn't going to be an instant K.O./fatality like his.

So, in the split second I had available to me, I employed my most well-used strategy in a fight.

I cheated.

With my gravity inverted and increased, I shot into the air with barely a flex of the knees, passing above Gajeel's swing and causing the Dragon Slayer to stumble as he missed his target.

My target, however, was still in the perfect position.

 **"Gravity Hammer: Chibibaku Tensei!"**

For the third time that day, Gajeel Redfox ate dirt - this time, with a boulder of granite-density earth sitting on the back of his neck, as I crouched atop it and panted, trying to get my breath back but reflexively emptying my lungs from the stabbing pain that breathing was bringing to me.

I stayed that way for a few seconds, supporting myself with my feet and right hand as my left held my midsection in a vain attempt to keep my ribs in one place, coughing blood up all over the sphere beneath me - then, the whole thing abruptly went from 'at rest' to 'professional baseball pitch', and I was sent skittering across the ground once more.

I had only made it a metre, though, before I felt a massive force catch me in the side, and a quick glance revealed that Gajeel had extended one of his legs into a club. I heard more distressing cracking noises, felt more blood appear in my throat, and my trajectory went from 'fell down the stairs' to 'fell out of the car on the highway'. I immediately lost track of the world around me, too distracted by the way I was spinning and the exacerbated damage to my midsection to pay much attention.

I finally came to a crashing halt against something solid, my back screaming in protest, before I dropped about a metre; like something out of a loony tunes skit. My eyes had screwed themselves shut as I folded over around my abdomen, trying to prevent further damage, and my thought processes were shot to hell - my sense of touch was nothing but pain, I couldn't muster up the willpower to open my eyes, my hearing was a vague, tinny noise, and all I could taste and smell was blood.

 _'...Christ, I am so, totally_ fucked _.'_

I hate my ability to think in parallel sometimes.

A vague thumping sound managed to make it through the whine in my ears, and through the general haze of pain I felt something grip my right shoulder hard enough to pierce the skin and make the bones creak, before my back screamed once more as I was pinned against whatever had stopped me.

 _'Open your eyes. Come on, open your_ fucking _eyes; you started this, you're gonna finish it with your eyes open, dammit!'_

The world was one massive, smeared blur when I forced my eyelids up - but when I started coughing up more blood, the blinking cleared them, and I was able to see Gajeel where he was pinning me by my shoulder - judging by the evening shadows and by the roots around us, I'd say I was pinned to the tree which he'd left Shadow Gear hanging from in the manga.

I should probably have expected that.

The Iron Dragon Slayer was staring straight at me, sneering. "Stupid fairy; you thought you could stand up to Phantom Lord? Your entire Guild is just trash - so what if those other weaklings got away? None of you are even worth my time."

I stared right back, my features blank - I was so high on pain right now, my brain chemistry probably resembled the aftermath of a PCP lab explosion. "You say that now, Redfox..." I managed, seeing scarlet dots appear on the Dragon Slayer's scales with each word I pronounced, hearing the gurgle in my voice and feeling the bloody phlegm in my throat. "But you'll see - you and that schizophrenic Count Dracula reject of a B-movie villain you call a Guild Master."

In my chest, beside my frantic, thudding heart, the coals that had been burning since I first saw the Guild building flared as high as they'd yet gone, and I snapped up my left arm, grabbing the Dragon Slayer's own left forearm where he was holding me. "This is the lesson you will learn, Dragon Slayer..."

My grip, weak with pain and probably blood loss too at this point, suddenly tightened on the iron scales - and it kept tightening, purple-black light bursting into flames around my hand, all the magical power I had left in me fed to the inferno as my grip went beyond the superhuman and into the realms known only to Dragon Slayers and industrial machinery, resulting in a screech of metal and then an ominous _crack_.

Gajeel stared in frank disbelief at his arm - or, more specifically at his scaled armour...the armour which had just fractured around the deep impressions of my fingers, leaving the entire assembly of his arm ready to fall apart.

His red eyes turned to meet mine once more, and I wondered what he saw there as I put all my conviction into my voice.

"Don't. _Fuck_. With Fairy Tail."

The Dragon Slayer stared at me for a few moments longer, before shaking his head frantically - incidentally scattering dirt everywhere as it cascaded from his hair. "Damn fairy..." He growled, drawing back his right arm, which transitioned into a blade. "DON'T GET COCKY!"

Then he slammed the blade forward, and I ran out of whatever fumes were keeping me running.

* * *

 _A Minute Later..._

Macao Conbolt and Wakaba Mine were leading the charge to the park.

The two Fairy Tail veterans had still been at the Guild, quietly plotting and planning how to get back at Phantom Lord, when Shadow Gear had practically fallen down the stairs. The trio, who seemed torn between frantic worry and a deep-seated shame, had almost been speaking too fast to be understood - but the Master had calmed them down, and got the explanation from them.

Now, the old man himself was on their trail, having told the Guild members present that he was going to do something he should have done a long time ago.

The middle-aged users of Purple Flare and Smoke Magic arrived at the park, scanning the area with eyes that had seen more than their fair share of magical combat over the years. The place was wrecked; loose clods of earth everywhere, great scars carved into the turf, metal scattered all about the place, embedded into the ground like someone had tried to go to war with Earthland itself. In fact, the only thing that seemed most untouched was -

The tree.

Both men's eyes fell on the shadowed trunk at the same time, and they sprinted forward when they spotted the silhouetted form shoved up against it, slumping unnaturally yet remaining in place.

When they got closer, they could see why - and they both grimaced.

Macao recognised Declan Ross; he and the other newcomer to the Guild, the girl he never seemed very far away from, had accompanied Natsu to help him out after he was possessed by a Vulcan on Mt Hakobe. The kid had been quiet but polite, an unassuming presence for all the weight his Magic carried.

Now, that weight was almost spent - still there, but faded and flickering. It wasn't a big surprise, either - the kid's hands were dripping blood from the fingers, which had been sliced nearly to ribbons; blood had dried on his lips and chin, although he was, at least, still breathing - Magic could keep a person alive through a lot. But the thing which really drew the eye was the iron blade, turned parallel to the ground, which ran through his left shoulder and deep into the tree behind him.

That was what was keeping him upright - and its continued presence was probably the only thing keeping the blood in his shoulder.

"Get his lungs, I'll get the wounds."

Macao and Wakaba had done more than a bit of emergency first-aid in their time; they were both experts with their Magic, and had figured out more than one unorthodox method of keeping someone alive well past what even a Mage's natural resilience could account for.

Wakaba took a deep breath from his pipe, then blew it out - but instead of the grey, ashy smoke which usually characterised his Magic, the resulting cloud was only visible because of the slight grey light it emitted, as the smoke which was really just air passed into Declan's nose and down his throat, opening the airway and ferrying air in past the liquid, which was pushed upwards by the pumping motion of the lungs as they started to work properly once more.

While the Smoke Mage was feeding the teen oxygen, Macao placed his hands on the arm closest to him, closing his eyes as purple flames ran down his arms and along the limb.

In seconds, the Magic had mapped out the exterior of Declan's body, falling into the dips which indicated wounds and picking up the deformation of the abdomen and chest which betrayed broken ribs. With the flames in place, Macao focussed, changing their properties until they were applying enough pressure to prevent any further bleeding.

"He can't have been here too long - five to ten minutes, at the latest." Macao noted, glancing at the crimson puddles soaking into the ground.

"Five or ten minutes too long." Wakaba growled, biting down on his pipe hard enough for the wood to creak. "This is it - this is the _limit_. Phantom Lord have gone too far. Fuck the Magic Council, nothing is gonna stop me now!"

"You're right."

The two middle-aged men glanced back around - still too focussed on their tasks to sacrifice any more of their attention - and found the source of the voice.

All of the Mages who had still been in the Fairy Tail building stood in a crowd, each of them focussed on the figure pinned to the tree, lit in eerie purple by Macao's Magic. Some were growling, some were gritting their teeth - but the incandescent rage on each face was the same.

Standing in front of the crowd was Makarov Dreyer - but not as any of his Guild members had seen him in a long time, if ever.

Gone was the orange jester's attire - in its place, he wore black trousers and a white tunic with the Fairy Tail symbol on the left collar, topped by a formal white coat with white fur around the edges and the symbol of the Ten Wizard Saints on the back. Slung around his neck was a golden mantle hung with rectangular tassels, held at the front with red cord around large golden buttons.

He carried in his hand the short wooden staff he was normally seen with around the Guild, a pink, smiling face held in the loop at its head - an almost comedic contrast to his demeanour...

But there was no comedy in the Guild Master that night.

Makarov stepped forward, his every step measured and controlled, his every movement pure energy on a leash. There was no light in his eyes - none of the laughter or joking despair that normally shone.

All that remained now was a tired, but bloody resolve.

The elderly man reached the trio by the tree, his form rippling and swelling seemingly of its own accord until the tiny figure stood just as tall as the teen pinned to the tree. Reaching forward, the Guild Master laid one hand on the teen's head, closing his eyes for a moment. There was a stirring of the wind, before a faint golden light ran in rivulets from the elder Mage's hand, sinking into the teen like water into a dry riverbed.

Declan's eyes flickered, then opened just a crack - much to the frank astonishment of both Wakaba and Macao, although Makarov didn't seem at all surprised.

"Did that Magical Power Transfer just wake him up...?" Macao wondered a loud, staring at the teen as Makarov leaned closer, putting his ear by the figure's mouth. "But...just how sensitive to Magic _is_ he, if he could wake up after an attack like this using just that energy?"

Wakaba shook his head in disbelief as Makarov leaned back, the teen in front of him drooping once more, eyelids falling closed.

"Get him to the hospital." The Guild Master ordered, stepping back to let the two other Mages get closer. "I would prefer Porlyusica, but she's too far... _even if she'd probably prefer to treat him than the rest of us anyway._ " The last part was muttered to himself, and Makarov simply stood as two of his eldest children carefully removed the blade from Declan's shoulder, Purple Flare immediately blocking off the entry and exit wounds as a cocoon of Smoke Magic and Purple Flare enveloped the three, Macao and Wakaba falling into Unison Raid with practised ease as they lifted off the ground, vanishing in the direction of the Magnolia Hospital.

The remaining Mages stood waiting, as their Master's head tilted down, his grip on his staff growing tight enough to shake the wood. "They wrecked our shoddy bar..." He whispered. "And I was fine with that."

Makarov lifted his head once more, the shadows of the setting sun hiding his features as he looked to the tree - to the bloodstains on it and below it. "But no parent will ever stand idle at the sight of their child's blood."

There was a loud _crack_ \- and the remains of Makarov's staff fell to the ground, the midsection shattered to splinters through the man's grip alone.

The Guild Master turned to his children, and his eyes blazed with golden light. _"Gather your brothers and sisters."_ He intoned, the air around him trembling slightly as he spoke. _"We're going to war."_

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **Well, here we are - the beginning of the Phantom Lord Arc.**

 **I've been planning this fight almost since I started writing this fic. I played it out dozens of times, trying dozens of different strategies, playing with the power levels and the strategies as I tried to figure out a single way for Declan to come out on top in this fight.**

 **I couldn't. And if I couldn't, Declan couldn't - that's the thing about Self Inserts, after all.**

 **Now, rest assured this fic won't turn into This Bites - Declan** _will_ **be holding his own, but he also needs time to grow, and Gajeel was just too much, too fast. That's the issue with writing in Fairy Tail; Lucy, nominally the main character, starts out just above Mook status, but is surrounded by characters like Gray, Erza, Makarov and, of course, Natsu 'Plot Armour' Dragneel.**

 **She isn't actually involved in the majority of the fighting in the early chapters of the manga; and while that changes as she grows, during Phantom Lord she was** _literally_ **Daphne from Scooby Doo - although admittedly, she was still ballsy as all Hell.**

 **Gajeel was a** _massive_ **step up in power from opponents like Eligor - not only that, but his physical statistics are just as overblown as his Magic is, not to mention that at this point, I couldn't give Declan any backup without making the whole thing a cop-out.**

 **So, yeah. Just wanted to clarify** _why_ **exactly this happened the way it did.**

 **Also, you may have noted the comments made during this chapter, which tie into a couple of other little oddities that have cropped up in past chapters. If anyone can tie them all together, then I'll say that all the clues thus far are foreshadowing the thing which makes Declan...** _unique._ **There is, after all, a reason that almost all OCs and such in Fairy Tail fanfiction are Dragon Slayers or somesuch; it's because, after a point, the character** _needs_ **that extra edge. Whether it's to make combat more interesting, or just because the character needs a power-up to stay relevant, in Fairy Tail a character is (in my opinion) effectively required to have some twist to them, some facet of their abilities that sets them apart.**

 **So, Declan has one. It's not obvious; indeed, it's not even all** _that_ **big a deal - at this point, anyway. But, if anyone wants to try and guess what it is, here's the clues-**

 ***It ISN'T a power native to Fairy Tail - although, I can promise that it fits in with the world.**

 ***I have already referenced the Universe in which the ability exists, even if I haven't mentioned the ability itself.**

 ***Declan's title is, in my own (extremely biased) opinion, a** _very_ **clever pun. (Don't listen to him, he's an egomaniac - though, it IS a pun)**

 **If you want to go chasing down that rabbit hole, be my guest - but for now, I hope you've enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you next time.**

 **'Till then,**

 **-Teninshigen**


	14. XIII - March ad Bellum

_Lucy's POV_

It didn't even take until Declan had finished climbing the stairs before Lucy felt a niggling worry beginning to build in the back of her mind.

Almost everything about the situation - Declan's use of his practised smile rather than a genuine one, his seeming indifference to the destruction of the Guild (indifference? Or a lack of surprise?), the way he scanned the room as if searching for something elusive...all of those things were enough to make the Celestial Spirit Mage uneasy.

But even more worrying than that, was that the action was so uncharacteristic.

In the time she'd known him, Declan had proven himself to be a largely logical person. He wasn't prone to exaggerated shows of emotion - and while she _had_ seen him at moments like when he'd had her chasing him the length and breadth of Galuna Island in a fit of giggling rage, she had also seen how he acted at other times. He tended to fade easily into backgrounds, quietly going about whatever he was focussed on at the time and neither expecting or seeming to wish for much in the way of attention.

A quiet soul - that seemed to be a suitable term...when he wasn't being the sarcastic/sadistic mischief-maker she had seen shining through.

Suddenly deciding to go gallivanting off on his own with a situation like this going on was completely unexpected, and she couldn't figure out how it made sense...

Unless he knew something the rest of them didn't.

 _That_ was characteristic, at least; Declan had proven to possess an interesting range of trivial knowledge, particularly relating to Magic, as well as a habit to either not bother talking about things (like when he was solving the mystery of the villagers _while_ the two of them were defending the village and fighting Zalty, or only mentioned Zalty as an afterthought despite his apparent threat level) or, perhaps, deliberately say nothing about them.

In another person, Lucy might have found that incredibly suspicious - and, in honesty, she would be lying if she hadn't had some doubts, particularly during the last couple of days.

Two things kept banishing those doubts. Observation, and the battle against Lyon's three lieutenants.

During the latter incident, Declan had left her in a one-on-one situation out of nowhere - levelling the playing field by dragging away Sherry's reinforcements and driving the woman up the wall, leaving her making irrational decisions, but doing so nonetheless. Having him just, _run away_ like that, for him to vanish and leave her to her own devices, was a painfully familiar sensation - for all that she had hidden it when she returned to her senses, wrapped in a familiar leather coat and carefully leaned back against the wall of a house in the village.

She had accepted his explanation (and it was a very logical explanation, but mixed with a healthy dose of faith and perhaps some of the mischievous sadism that liked to make itself known in the Gravity Mage's words and actions from time to time), but that hurt had still been there - right up until the fight with Zalty.

They had worked together in a way she had only thought she could manage with some of her Celestial Spirits, and the trust he had placed in her - the weaker Mage, as he had outright stated just the previous night - had cleared away what aches remained from his abrupt exit.

Though, the flinch and grimace that had crossed his features when she had mentioned that exit before fighting Zalty had also gone a ways toward mending that damage. For the usually taciturn Gravity Mage to display such discomfort showed her how much his course of action had weighed on him.

So, as he disappeared up the stairs (followed a moment later by the rush of displaced air that indicated him taking off at high speed, although Lucy could barely hear it even when she was listening specifically for it), it wasn't doubts that plagued her, and the ridiculous theories like Declan being some kind of undercover Phantom Lord supporter were thrown overboard like every other seemingly possible but utterly ridiculous idea her mind produced in its usual running - just like the sheets of paper she'd scrunch up and throw away after the story in her mind translated poorly to the real world.

No, it wasn't doubt that assailed her - rather, she found herself worried that, whatever was going on, Declan didn't think he could or should ask for their assistance. That seemed to indicate that it wouldn't be anything really difficult or dangerous, but at the same time it could just mean that he wanted to move quickly (his unusual intensity as he scanned the Guild Hall's basement while Natsu was yelling at the Guild Master seemed to support that). However, if that was the case, why not inform someone of where he was going, what he was doing?

There were too many possibilities, especially when it was also plausible that Declan really _did_ have to go down to the market to get something and simply wanted to keep it to himself.

 _'After all,'_ Lucy thought to herself, unaware of the ruby-red glow that had begun to overtake her usual fair complexion. _'He_ is _a teenage boy, and there are some places_ I _wouldn't want to take my friends shopping...'_

Catching her train of thought before it could go any further, the Heartfilia smacked her hands onto her cheeks and shook her head a couple of times, hoping that the sting and shake would clear her mind, before slumping as she looked around. _'Of course, with_ my _friends, I don't even particularly want to dare let them into my apartment...'_

The apartment itself was a rather homey one, despite her short occupancy so far. It had three main areas; the living area, where they were currently sitting - the bathroom, which was behind a curtain (she had to remember to ask the landlady about installing an actual _door_ , with an actual _lock_ ), and the kitchen, which was behind another curtain, on the same wall as the bathroom, and with the exact same design, with a bookcase placed between them. _'Yes - definitely ask about getting doors fitted.'_

Settling into her armchair, Lucy huffed out a breath, cheeks turning a little red again. _'And maybe ask Declan for a little help first this time.'_

Honestly, she'd had no idea putting furniture together was so complicated - at home, it had just...always been there, and when they needed more of it the fixtures would just appear.

Here, she remembered the construction of each piece that filled the room. The table and chairs which Erza, Gray and Natsu were currently sitting at had been the first things that Declan had put together, with her watching over his shoulder as he did so. Then, she had done the armchair she currently occupied herself - before they both worked together to construct the bed.

After that, it had been all the shelves which now took up a lot of the available wall space in the room; from the large, three-shelf tall example in the corner, parallel to her bed and touching the headboard, to its smaller, two-shelf cousins on the right hand side of her writing desk, which she had built herself to the right of her fireplace and looking out through one of her windows, and at the foot of her bed, set below a shelf. The second window was directly above said bed, which ran parallel to the wall, allowing the sun to wake her in the morning, while the third was half again as large as the others and was set in her apartment's shorter wall opposite the entrances to the bathroom and kitchen, while her desk and bed were pushed up against the room's longer walls, directly opposite one another.

It definitely wasn't the Heartfilia Estate...but now, after the work she had put into it (and especially after Horologium retrieved her library from the Celestial Spirit Realm - she wasn't going to leave _that_ behind), it felt like a home.

Unfortunately though, until Declan returned with the key to his own apartment (which the others seemed unable to infiltrate _,_ for some reason), she was playing host for her other teammates - though, it was more like playing 'House' with how they made themselves at home.

The Celestial Spirit Mage let out a long-suffering sigh as Happy looked through another drawer, the seemingly insatiably curious feline commenting aloud on what he found inside before moving on. _'Does he have to talk about_ everything _I own?'_

"Declan is running late."

When Erza spoke, the atmosphere in the room seemed to draw closer - Happy stopped in the motion of opening another drawer, Natsu's grumblings came to a stop, and Gray's irritated responses turned to gritted teeth.

Lucy herself felt her grip on the arms of her chair tighten, and bit her lip - she'd been distracting herself, but considering Declan's value of 'swift', he was taking far longer than he'd said he would.

"Couldn't it just be that he's taking a while?" Lucy asked quietly. She didn't even really believe it - but at the same time, she didn't want to accept another option, however logical it might be.

"Declan has not disobeyed an instruction yet - nor does he seemed inclined to." Erza disagreed, placing her teacup down with a startling loud _clink._ "Admittedly, he strikes me as the type to use the rules as and when they benefit him, rather than always adhering to them - but I cannot say that I know any reason for him to be explicitly disobeying my instruction in this situation."

Lucy's grip on the armchair tightened to the point where her arms shook slightly, and Gray spoke up. "So, what're you saying? Do you think he's off doing something he doesn't want us to know about, or...?"

"I would prefer to say the former," Erza answered, "but with his demeanour prior to his departure and the current situation..."

The Ice Mage and Titania shared a look for a few moments, then made their way to their feet - Natsu and Lucy following close behind.

"One way or another, we should at least check if anyone has seen him - at the market, the Guild, perhaps other locations if Lucy can tell us where he goes regularly." Erza continued, leading the way to the door. "We will travel as a group, and if all goes well then..."

The redhead's voice fell as they descended the stairs to the apartment building's ground floor, where the street exit was, and a knock on the door came almost as she reached for the handle.

Erza raised a hand to tell the others in the hallway to stay back - and, glancing back, Lucy could see Gray and Natsu shift themselves into combat positions. She herself reached to her belt, taking hold of one of her keys - she hadn't taken them off since the fight with Zalty.

With one hand held open, ready to grasp a weapon if it appeared there, Erza pulled the door open - revealing the sombre features of Max Alors, his usual vibrant grin absent. In the street behind him, Elfman was standing with his arms folded, glancing all around. _'Standing guard.'_

Erza took one look at them, and her own expression immediately shifted to match Max's. "What's happened?"

Fairy Tail's socialite grimaced, glancing toward the other three Mages in the doorway before his gaze returned to Erza. "Phantom Lord attacked again." He told her, and Lucy let out a low moan - a sound that caused the man to wince as he continued. "They...sent Gajeel Redfox, their Iron Dragon Slayer, to attack Shadow Gear. He would have really hurt them, but...your teammate, Ross, bought them time to get away."

Lucy's grip on her key loosened, and it almost dropped from her fingers as Max let out another sigh, one hand resting in his hair while, behind Erza, both Gray and Natsu's expressions darkened rapidly. "Max.. _.where is Declan?"_

Meeting Erza's gaze, the Sandstorm Mage kept himself standing straight, despite the impending doom he was standing mere feet away from. "Magnolia Hospital. Wakaba and Macao got him there quickly, but..." The Mage grimaced. "He's not in great shape."

 _Clink._

The innocuous sound of Lucy's Key hitting the floor was like a church bell ringing, and the four other Mages each glanced her way - each seeing the Celestial Spirit Mage shaking slightly where she stood.

Max's grimace worsened, and he turned away somewhat before addressing Erza again. "You should probably drop by...but when you've seen him, come to the Guild Hall. The Master's made his decision - Phantom Lord have declared war, so we're marching as soon as we have everyone together."

The Sandstorm Mage started walking away, but paused to look back, addressing Lucy this time. "Your friend - he made every Fairy Tail Mage proud tonight. Phantom Lord won't get away with this; not if we have to scour them away from the face of Earthland."

With that, Max continued his walk, meeting up with Elfman as they jogged off down the street - heading for the next address on their list.

In the entrance to Lucy's apartment, the blonde herself was still shaking slightly, while Erza, Natsu and Gray were inscrutable.

 _'I was right...I was right, and I didn't say anything. If I had asked, he might not have told me, but he'd have had to lie - and he hasn't lied to me yet, not to my face. I'd have noticed, I_ did _notice when he used that fake smile so I'm sure I would have noticed, but I didn't_ try _...'_

"Lucy."

The Celestial Spirit Mage's recrimination was cut off by the one pronunciation of her name, looking up from where her eyes had fallen to see Natsu in front of her, leaning down to pick up the Key she didn't even realise she'd dropped.

Holding the golden instrument in his hand, the Dragon Slayer turned to her, his usually bright eyes dark like coals, waiting to burst into life. "I'm not smart, like you and Declan - I go with my gut, and my fists. So, I can't really understand what you're thinking now...but I can understand what Declan was thinking."

Pressing the Key into Lucy's hand, Natsu closed her fingers around it. "Sure, I don't get why he didn't ask for backup, or how he knew what was happening...but I understand that he wanted to defend someone else, and I understand that it's the kind of person he is." The Dragon Slayer chuckled, stepping back from Lucy with a momentarily bright grin. "Sometimes, he's a bit of an idiot - like me."

Lucy looked down at the Key in her hand, feeling the warm metal, the magical power within just waiting to mix with her own. "And, if I got all beat up like this..." Natsu continued, his expression darkening into something more feral. "I wouldn't want everyone standing around being sad - I'd want my friends to go out and finish what I started!"

Turning around, Natsu headed out into the street, a barely-visible orange light flickering around his fingers every few seconds. "So, we'll go check in on him..."

There was a roar of crackling flames, accompanied by searing flames erupting all along the Dragon Slayer's arms as he punched his fist into his open left hand. "AND THEN WE'LL BURN PHANTOM LORD TO THE GROUND!"

Lucy watched the burning, flickering form in the street for a moment, before her fingers curled around her Key once again.

She looked up from her closed fist, and her eyes blazed just as fiercely as Natsu's had ever done. "To the _ground._ "

Beside her, a cruel smirk spread across Gray's features, and Erza's lips twitched upward for a moment.

Out in the street, Natsu turned back and smiled, showing off his unnaturally sharp teeth. "Then let's go - the night's still young, and there's no better time for fireworks than this!"

* * *

 _Oak Town, Later That Night_

Moving almost the entire Fairy Tail Guild to Oak Town in the middle of the night would normally be a tall order for anyone.

Not this night, though.

Since he was already going to be breaking so many of the Council's laws over this (like he gave two shits anyway), Makarov just walked straight into the station, boarded the train currently resting inactive on the outgoing Oak Town line, and instructed his children to get it moving.

Crewed by a group of reckless, furious Mages, the train reached Oak Town at such a speed it was a wonder the whole thing didn't go off the rails a dozen times during the journey. As it was, the whole thing was suffering from some serious stress damage, and would probably need to be replaced completely.

The same could be said for the main street they were walking up - dozens of Mages, practising dozens of different Magics, all of them in states of high emotion and just _itching_ for the opportunity to break something...

The cobblestones never stood a chance.

Leaving a trail of destruction in their wake, Fairy Tail stomped up the street toward the castle which housed the Oak Town branch of Phantom Lord. At the head were Master Makarov, Erza, Gray and Natsu - right on their heels, Elfman, Cana, Loke and Alzack were at the forefront of the crowd.

Every expression betrayed anger, every movement screamed of violence, and the pressure of so much barely-leashed magical power woke nearly every animal in the town and caused nightmares in whoever the Guild passed.

Then they reached the front door. Makarov stared at it, the oaken barrier between some minor fines and open warfare.

For about a second.

"Natsu."

Beside the Master, the Salamander stepped up, drawing back his fist. His pupils focussed down into slits, his teeth all showing and unnaturally sharp, incandescent flames roared into life around his arm as he reared back. **"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"**

Natsu let the punch fly, and the resulting explosion of flames, wood and stone could be seen from the other side of the town.

None of the Fairy Tail Mages so much as flinched as they moved forward, through the devastated wall, into the Guild Hall.

It was almost Gothic in its architecture, with no windows and few torches to create a dingy atmosphere. The ceiling was criss-crossed with thick wooden beams, running parallel and perpendicular to the long wooden tables on the ground floor. Apart from that, it was really nothing but cold, unforgiving stone.

The room beyond was, despite the time of night, filled with people - Makarov had rather expected that. After all, Jose wasn't...well, he _was_ an idiot, but he wasn't an unintelligent idiot. He would have known that the repercussions for his actions would come on swift wings, and for someone who cared as little for his comrades as Jose, that would be a cue to keep all his pieces close at hand for deployment.

Though, he didn't seem to have told any of his Guild members that.

Shouts and screams of surprise sounded all around the hall, while others yelled in pain or groaned where they had fallen - the shockwave from Natsu's attack had caused a line of damage straight down the centre of the Guild Hall, uprooting flagstones and destroying furniture, sending Mages flying every which way.

Makarov walked forward into the breach, and took a deep breath. "WE ARE FAIRY TAIL!" He declared, drawing more curses and more screaming from the rabble in front of them. "AND WE ACCEPT YOUR DECLARATION OF WAR!"

Natsu let out a long scream, one which was too sibilant and too low-pitched to sound properly human, and leaped forward - immediately diving into the thickest part of the Phantom Lord crowd he began lashing out, launching kicks, punches and elbows into every target which presented itself, breaking bones and sending his opponents flying with every movement, yelling and aflame all the while.

Right on his heels, Erza - forgoing any of her magical sets of armour as being frivolous - had drawn two swords before wading in, instantly clearing a space around her as she struck. Her opponents fell in singular blows, grasping at open wounds in a desperate bid to keep their blood where it belonged, falling like puppets as she sliced tendons like strings, or going straight into unconsciousness as the flats and pommels of her swords found vulnerable nerves or openings in their defences.

It was the same wherever the eye fell - the Fairy Tail Mages were united in their burning desire for retribution, their wish to take revenge for their comrades and protect each other from the threat Phantom Lord had become. Their singular purpose and overflowing emotion alone would have made them an unbeatable force - but their Magic, already bound so closely by a day of plotting and planning in the basement of Fairy Tail and naturally cooperative thanks to the close bonds that tied every member of Fairy Tail together as family, took that desire. It took in the rage, the righteous fury, the wish to protect and the need for retribution...

And the hearthfire that always burned in Fairy Tail leapt for the heavens.

* * *

 _Gajeel's POV_

None of the Phantom Lord members stood a chance - and, looking down from where he stood among the rafters, Gajeel Redfox could see it clearly.

 _'These fairies...don't mess around.'_ He had to admit, watching the devastation unravel, picking out the tiny figure of Makarov Dreyer in particular. _'That's the one Master Jose said to steer clear of...hard to believe some scrawny old man like that's one of the Ten Wizard Sain-'_

Abruptly, Gajeel's thought process found itself derailed, as that 'scrawny old man' erupted in golden light and swelled up to a dozen times his normal size. Fists like train carriages swung, and the sheer pressure wave almost buffeted Gajeel from his perch, even as the impacts themselves carried Phantom Lord members up into the air, through the rafters (literally, sometimes) and into the ceiling beyond, where either it broke, or they did.

The ones who hit the walls fared no better.

 **"YOU ATTACKED THAT MONSTER'S CHILDREN!"** The massive figure declared, likely in response to something Gajeel couldn't hear, its eyes glowing with magical power. **"DON'T BE SURPRISED WHEN IT COMES FOR YOU - AND DON'T THINK THAT YOUR HUMAN LAWS WILL KEEP YOU SAFE!"**

From where he was watching, Gajeel shuddered slightly. _'These damn fairies - they should be just trash, especially without Laxus, Mystogan or Gildarts...but none of them are like what we were told! They're supposed to be a group of idiots who can't get along for a minute, not...this!'_

A phantom pain throbbed in his left arm, and the Dragon Slayer glanced down toward it with a grimace - the purple-black bruises from that fairy's grip hadn't even begun to heal, despite his Dragon Slayer constitution, and he almost felt like the bruises ran all the way through his arm and the bone beneath.

Shaking off the moment of distraction, Gajeel continued to watch the melee as the once again shrunken figure of Makarov headed out of the room toward a staircase - probably to head upwards in search of Master Jose, like Jose himself had predicted.

"Well, at least the Master's plan is working." Gajeel muttered to himself, scanning the area again and noting the absence of the target. "So these reckless scum can just keep on fighting...we'll win in the end.

"For now..." The Dragon Slayer's lips began to pull back, baring sharp teeth as a bloody tinge began to enter into his already-red eyes. "With Makarov gone...I can deal with the trash!"

Leaping from the rafter on which he stood, Gajeel felt the familiar sensation of steely power entering his body as metal rose to encompass his arm, building on it and extending it until by the time he reached the floor below, he had a multi-metre club of solid iron - one he wasted no time in bringing down on the two closest non-Phantom Mages.

Or, maybe they _were_ Phantom - the others who had been caught in the strike certainly were.

 _'Not like it matters.'_ Gajeel thought to himself, bloodthirst in his smile. _'In this Guild of ours, anyone who can't stand on their own two feet is just wasted space!'_

Those were the teachings of their Master - that was what he had learned from Master Jose. The man had taught him the true meaning of strength - had shown him the power that lay in embracing complete independence, in establishing dominance over others, in being a _true_ Dragon.

A faint throbbing came from his left arm, but the Dragon Slayer ignored it. So what if that trash had managed to break his scales - it wasn't like he'd done anything _else_. He'd tried, again and again, but in the end all he'd managed to do was leave some bruises (and an incredibly irritating amount of dirt in his hair - it had taken _hours_ to get that shit out).

Yes...no matter how much strength that fairy had seemed to find in thinking of his Guild, it hadn't been enough. He was still the best, still on top of the food chain. _He was still the strongest._

No matter how much the damn bruises throbbed, or how much worse it got when anything so much as brushed them - he'd had worse before, it'd take more than some fairy's sting to stop him throwing a punch.

Allowing the iron on his arm to slough away, the Dragon Slayer looked around, revelling in the chaos, searching for a worthy target. "I AM GAJEEL - THE IRON DRAGON SLAYER!" He declared, rearing his head back and letting his voice be heard all throughout the room. "COME AND FIGHT ME, SCUM!"

Casting his eyes around again, Gajeel found himself snarling when he realised that the people in an area around him - the fairies, at least - had all suddenly drawn back, like he was a bomb about to go off.

 _'Tch - figures; damn cowards are probably scared by what I did to that other damn fairy. Well, fuck it - I'll just go to th-'_

That was about as far as his thought process went before he realised that, more than just an area around him, a corridor had opened up in the fighting - and at the other end of that corridor was a teenager with pink hair, dressed in black, gold and white, and with flames coruscating over every inch of his skin.

 _"Gajeel..."_ The teen hissed, a sound that had Gajeel's eyes widening suddenly - he hadn't heard a voice like that in _years_ , not since...

Since...

The teen began to stalk forward, picking up speed rapidly as he crossed the floor. _"I'm Fairy Tail's Dragon Slayer, Natsu Dragneel!"_ The now-named Natsu declared, accelerating into a full run as Gajeel got himself together enough to start moving to meet him, iron crawling over his arms as he began to move.

 _"And for Declan..."_

The two Dragon Slayers reached one another, and Gajeel threw the first punch - only to find that Natsu had ducked beneath it and was now _right_ inside his guard, the flames on his arms reaching a whole new level of intensity as the black-haired man's eyes widened, knowing that he wasn't going to be fast enough for this.

 _"I'M GOING TO BURN YOU INTO ASHES!"_

Then the pink-haired Dragon Slayer's fist buried itself in Gajeel's face, and he came to the conclusion that there might have been a reason that trash in Magnolia had seemed so damn sure of himself, talking shit with his back to the wall and nowhere left to turn.

 _'Good thing this guy's here and not with the target - Sol'd run like a bitch, and Juvia would probably boil over.'_

His last thought before turning his entire focus onto the fight, was that at least there was no way for those two to fuck up a simple retrieval mission.

* * *

 _Magnolia Hospital_

Sitting in one of the Magnolia Hospital's waiting rooms, the figure of Lucy Heartfilia let out a sigh.

Declan was more stable now, but showed no signs of waking. The doctor assigned to him had managed to retrieve all the bone shards that had lodged in his midsection, as well as put his ribs back in the right places - right now, they were all being held in place with stasis bandages, while the spells laid into the bed he was lying on encouraged them to re-attach properly and heal.

He wasn't in critical condition, and he was expected to make a full recovery once the blood loss had been regenerated, his organs recovered and his bones were reconnected - though, the doctor had warned that it was possible that there would be some lingering stiffness or even possibly trauma from an encounter which came far too close to being fatal.

The doctor must have been new in town - otherwise he'd have had time to hear the Psych Ward's horror stories about Fairy Tail Mages.

Leaning back in her seat, the blonde glanced out the window, to where rain had been drumming on the glass for a little while now, before letting out a sigh.

"Drip drop, drip drop...Juvia brings the rain which clouds the windows..."

With a blink, brown eyes turned to the new figure in the room, narrowing slightly as they took her in.

It was a girl, probably in her late teens - slender, but with a figure comparable to Lucy's own. Her hair was an azure blue, and fell to her shoulders where it was curled tightly upwards again, almost like Swiss rolls. Her eyes were blue as well, though it was a darker shade, while her complexion was so pale she might almost have been mistaken for a yuki-onna.

She was dressed in a sapphire blue coat with brass buttons and belted around the waist, as well as a navy blue shawl - both the shawl and the sleeves of the coat trimmed in cream fur. Holding the shawl closed was a pure white _teru teru bōzu_ \- a sphere with a stitched mouth and eyes, from which hung white fabric much like a handkerchief. Atop her head was a navy blue Cossack hat, and she carried a pink umbrella printed with darker pink heart designs.

"Yes..." The girl murmured to herself, glancing around the waiting room. "Steadily and silently, Juvia brings rain..."

Midnight blue eyes settled on Lucy's figure, just as another voice made itself know. "Oui, oui, oui, oui, oui, oui, oui, oui, oui, oui, oui, oui, oui, bonjour! With oui, in a 3-3-7 rhythm!"

The cobblestones which made up the floor of the hospital suddenly bulged upwards, their colour shifting as they moved upwards until it began to coalesce into a humanoid figure.

It was a man, slim and of average height, with green hair that pointed straight upwards and a tiny, pointy moustache. His eyes were black, with one hidden by a red monocle attached to a slim chain. He was dressed in a formal brown suit, with a ragged collar bearing three outward-jutting protrusions on each side of his neck. The suit was worn over a white shirt, paired with a black tie and simple shoes. He also wore a short black cape which was attached to both of his elbows.

"Oui, this madamoiselle must be our precious sible!"

Brown eyes _stared_ at the two figures for several moments, before the male suddenly snapped his hand out at such a speed there was a _crack_ , simultaneously shifting his posture so that his upper body was leaning to his right at 90 degrees to his legs, in a movement which seemed like it should have broken something. "Oh non, non, non, I have forgotten to introduce myself! I am Monsieur Sol, and we have been sent by the great Guild of Phantom Lord to welcome you!"

The woman beside him spoke as well. "And I am a member of Phantom Lord's Elemental Four, Juvia, who brings rain."

The figure of Lucy stared at the two for several moments longer, causing an awkward silence to rise in the room.

"Mademoiselle...?" Sol half-asked, peering at the blonde through his monocle. "Did you, perhaps, not hear us?"

The figure stared at them for a moment longer before heaving another sigh and standing up - before another voice spoke up from behind the Phantom Lord duo.

"That's not it."

Both Juvia and Sol immediately whirled around, finding themselves face to face with Macao Conbolt - his features serious, purple light already glowing around his hands. "The bastard was just using the time to get an eyeful of the girl there."

Sol and Juvia both blinked several times before their eyes widened and they glanced backwards - just in time to see the figure of Lucy Heartfilia burst into smoke and drift away to swirl around the feet of the newly revealed Wakaba Mine, who was smirking around his pipe as he stood in his near-constant slouch.

The Phantom Lord Mages glanced rapidly between the two Fairy Tail men, eyes wide. "Qu'est-ce que...how?!" Sol cried, only a couple of seconds from disappearing into the ground beneath his feet.

"The Master knew you'd go after Lucy - I don't know any of the details, but I'd bet it was that Ross kid who told him something." Macao smirked. "Your Dragon Slayer must have a really big mouth - we can relate.

"However," the single father continued, his expression becoming serious again. "You still came here to kidnap a member of our Guild - and since we didn't get to go and beat the shit out of your other Guild members, you're gonna have to do."

Macao cracked his fists, just as the smoke around Wakaba's feet began to swirl faster, rising around him and beginning to fill the room. "Oh, c'mon Macao..." The smoker whined, though his expression didn't change and his eyes never left the Phantoms. "Can't we leave the girl be? Maybe she'll be grateful enough to go on a date with me!"

"It won't happen in a million years and you know it, you black-lunged bastard." Macao replied, while between them, Sol and Juvia glanced at one another - both reaching the same conclusion, if for different reasons.

"Juvia thinks we don't need to be here, Monsieur Sol." _'Juvia doesn't want to fight this pervert!'_

"Oui, oui, oui - our sible is elsewhere, so nous devrait la trouver elsewhere!" _'These two are dangerous together - and neither of them have an exploitable weakness! I must retreat!'_

With that, both Phantom Mages immediately made their moves - Sol disappeared into the ground beneath his feet, while Juvia dissolved into water and shot forward at Macao, causing him to curse and leap sideways, leaving her free to escape the room and, in short order, the hospital.

With the two Mages gone, Macao and Wakaba glanced at one another, before cackling madly. "I gotta tell this story to Romeo!" Macao declared, holding his middle and laughing. "Wait till he hears his old man scared off two of Phantom Lord's most powerful Mages without even laying a finger on 'em!"

Wakaba, who was in much the same state, grinned as the smoke in the room dissipated. "Yeah - this'll definitely impress Mira; maybe I'll finally get that date!"

The other man in the room shook his head, collapsing into a nearby seat. "Keep dreaming, Wakaba." Leaning back in the chair, Macao stared at the ceiling. "It was pretty smart of the Master, having us set a trap like this - I guess wandering around with Lucy's form every now and again was the right idea."

"Yup," Wakaba agreed, taking a seat himself. "That Ross kid's a lucky bastard - that teammate of his hasn't left his bedside ever since she got here, has she?"

"Not for more than five minutes." Macao answered. "I think she planned to head out with Natsu and the others - I feel kinda bad for telling her the Master thought someone might come after him."

"It's not a nice trick," Wakaba sighed, "but it kept her safe this time didn't it? And besides, she has Shadow Gear to keep her company - you've seen how Lucy and Levy have been getting along?"

Macao smiled. "Yeah, I have. It's good to see Levy finally has someone who can keep up with her."

"Two someones, from what I've seen." Wakaba pointed out.

"That's true." Macao agreed. "Declan's pretty sharp." There was a pause, before the single father giggled. "He really _is_ a lucky bastard though, isn't he? I wonder how Jet and Droy are feeling?"

Wakaba blinked a couple of times, then burst out laughing again. "Oh, those would be some priceless expressions..." He managed, taking in large gulps of air. "Almost as good as the looks on Lucy and Declan's faces when they saw that banner!"

Macao burst out into fresh laughter, and the two men kept up their mirth until a nurse poked her head around the door and levelled a glare at them which seemed to scorch whatever surface it touched.

Both gulping, the two men shook themselves, before leaning back in their seats again to stare at the ceiling. "I wonder how the others are doing right now?"

* * *

 _Oak Town, Phantom Lord Branch Hall_

Makarov Dreyer moved up the staircase he had found surrounded by a golden aura - whenever his foot touched the steps, a reverberating wave of power emanated away, shaking the entire building to its foundations as he climbed higher and higher, ready and willing to get his hands on his fellow Guild Master's neck.

He emerged onto a level just as dimly lit as the lower hall - here, the furniture seemed antique, maintaining the Gothic style but bearing tarnished golden filigree and faded leather, arrayed along a corridor leading to a high-back, almost throne-like seat, where the room's only other occupant could be seen.

Jose Porla was a tall, slim man with straight black hair reaching down to his shoulders and a thin moustache. His face was long and sharp, with vaguely pointed ears and prominent eyelashes, as well as almost unnaturally dark lips - nearly as dark as his eyes which, despite being green, were almost always thought to be black without close inspection.

Seated on his 'throne', he was wearing a flamboyant coat with a high collar that sported a jagged mantle and jagged lower edges, as well as intricately decorated borders and inners, featuring two prominent bat's wings and a witch's hat bearing Phantom Lord's symbol, its tip so ridiculously long that it fell down the Mage's front like a ponytail. Beneath the coat was a plain shirt held clasped with his Wizard Saints' medallion and two attached ribbons, leading down to loose, striped culottes paired with long socks and a pair of pointed shoes, each decorated with a fuzzy ball on the front and back of the foot.

Seeing him sitting there, with one leg crossed over the other, Makarov's already raging temper spiked - to declare open war, to spill the blood of children and then _just sit there?_

Makarov's magical power exploded into an even higher gear, the 'Giant's Rage' he had become so well known for once upon a time reaching a whole new level as golden light arced and curved away from him like lightning, tearing chunks from the wall and detonating furniture pieces when it made contact, rapidly reducing the room from an incredibly expensive work of Gothic art to so many matchsticks and shattered stones.

"What the Hell..." Makarov growled, still stomping forward, destruction following in his footsteps. "Do you think you're doing, Jose?!"

From his seat, Jose looked up - an ungodly irritating look of smug condescension on his face like usual, showing little to no reaction to being faced down with an angry Wizard Saint.

While the loathsome man spouted some false pleasantry, that fact bored through the rage clouding the Fairy Tail Master's mind, bringing his senses back to the fore - Jose was an arrogant son of a bitch, yes, but this was out of character. Even if he had his head so far up his own ass he couldn't see the boot headed for it, he would at least have the common sense to stand up and raise his magical power to combat levels...except, when he felt for it, Makarov could barely feel his Jose's magical power at all.

That shouldn't have been possible - Jose had never put much stock in restraining his abilities, preferring to just let his magical power run wild wherever he went, no matter how many issues that much raw magic leaking into the world could cause.

He wouldn't normally have bothered being this attentive...but he recalled the message Levy had passed to him, the one which had come from Ross. It seemed to be a strangely random piece of information to send with her, but that kid wasn't the type to do something for no reason - he was committed to something, and his every action would be a step to advance toward it or to protect his progress.

If he needed Fairy Tail to reach his goal, then he wouldn't want Phantom to destroy it - knowing that, he had taken a step to, from his view, stop that happening right before he went and got himself put in the hospital.

He had sent that message, likely in the full knowledge that he wasn't going to be able to pass on any more information - even if he actually had, though only in the space of a few moments.

Makarov almost found it hilarious - to think, of all the possible gifts Ross could have borne it would be _that._ Such an ability in the hands of someone who was so utterly incapable of harnessing it...at least, for the moment.

Someone up there was messing with the kid.

But that aside, Ross had chosen a warning - a warning to be delivered to him, personally.

That warning sounded loud and clear in the back of Makarov's mind even as he completely ignored whatever the Hell Jose had been saying and felt his magical power surge into his right arm, which immediately powered forward with the approximate size and kinetic velocity of a freight train so as to make the disgusting man _shut the fuck up-_

And his super-sized fist went right through the bastard.

More alarm bells started ringing, and Makarov surreptitiously formed a Magic Circle hidden by the motion of his coat as he brought his arm back, casting two spells in quick succession and tying them together with the kind of speed and intuitive knowledge that only members of organisations like the Ten Wizard Saints could ever lay claim to.

At the same time, he gritted his teeth, glaring at the insubstantial image of the other Guild Master and wishing he knew a spell which could attack an opponent through a thought projection. Perhaps he'd try looking through the Magic Library after this was over and done with...

"You cowardly bastard..." Makarov growled. "You left the Guild already?!"

Jose's smirk widened. "You know as well as I do that when Mages of our calibre do battle, the effects on the natural world can be catastrophic."

Makarov glared harder - like this bastard cared a whit for that. He was just a rotten coward.

"No..." Jose continued. "I prefer a more... _rational_ victory."

There was a flickering of the air near the Dark Mage's feet...

And the figure of Lucy Heartfilia, unconscious and with her wrists bound, appeared there.

For a moment, Makarov felt his heart seize, and his eyes widened in panic - then, he looked closer, and a smirk began to spread over his own features. "So _that's_ how it is."

Jose blinked - his smirk failing now that Fairy Tail's Guild Master seemed to have gained a confidence boost in the moment where he _should_ have been fully distracted. After all, even if Juvia and Sol had failed to retrieve the Heartfilia, Makarov couldn't know that - he should have been more panicked, even, since he should have believed that the guardians he had left in her place had been overcome. Mine and Conbolt were two of his oldest 'children' - a connection like that should have been easy to exploit.

There was only one possibility - that Makarov had seen through his Illusion Magic somehow, even through a Thought Projection spell.

"Nice try, Jose." Makarov continued, a savage smile with far too many teeth spreading across his features. "But whoever it was that sent you after Lucy really should have given you a more up-to-date picture."

Jose's eyes darkened, as Makarov raised one arm to point at 'Lucy'. "The real Lucy's bust...is at least three inches larger!"

For a moment, the Phantom Lord Guild Master stared dumbly at his hated foe - then, the image of Lucy flickered out and malevolent, black magical power began to rise and spiral around him, some of its rancid, oppressive miasma making itself felt even through the Thought Projection.

"I DID NOT DECLARE WAR TO BE DEFEATED BY CUP SIZE! PHANTOM LORD'S SUPERIORITY WILL NOT BE UNDONE BY A PERVERTED OLD MAN!" Jose screamed, conveniently ignoring the fact that he was about one musical number away from being kidnapped for the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

He wasn't wrong - after all, while he appreciated the views he could get from his out-of-the-way spot on Fairy Tail's bar, Makarov had loved and lost in his time, and was too old to take a great deal of interest in that kind of thing any more anyway. He liked to play up the part, since it was a useful part of his act, but being able to discern an illusion from reality based on bust size?

If he needed any more proof that Jose was an idiot, the fact that he believed that excuse was it - honestly, it had only taken one glance at illusion-Lucy's hands to notice the lack of any Guild Mark there.

Still, idiot or not, Jose's temper was well and truly riled - and Phantom Lord _were_ a credible threat.

Especially when it seemed that the Guild Master's anger was taken as a cue and, from the air behind Makarov, a figure appeared.

He was tall - extremely so - and with the musculature of a wrestler. His skin was tanned, visible on his rectangular, elongated face with prominent cheekbones and a rounded chin. Covering his eyes and eyebrows was a simple white blindfold, while whatever hair he might possess was hidden by a dark green top hat.

Compared to the incredible mass of his torso and midsection, his limbs seemed disproportionately thin, even hidden by his large, loose dark green coat with white edges and his dark blue, ankle-length trousers. The coat was closed around the neck, sporting a wide and high collar, but falling open from that point down to reveal a ruffled yellow shirt with its collar split into three horizontal straps circling his neck, held closed by three buttons.

Around his neck, there was a necklace - the centrepiece of which was a red skull with its eyes blindfolded, linked to a series of equally red crosses by small beads - and around his shoulders to hang down his front was a wide stole, purple and white in colour and covered in intricate motifs.

Aria of the Element Four, the user of Airspace Magic, teleported from where he had hidden himself within an Airspace constraining his magical power and his image to prevent the Guild Master from detecting him to directly behind the Guild Master's back, hands moving forward and to the sides to initiate his most devastating technique, the **Metsu** -

And instead had a split-second to detect the flare of magical power in front of him that, though he could not see it, heralded the formation of a spinning Magic Circle before it erupted into a beam of light that struck Aria in the chest, carrying him the length of the hall and into the wall at its end in only a second, embedding the large man in the bricks as he failed to form a defensive Airspace or disperse into the wind in time.

Makarov turned away from the Thought Projection of Jose - which cursed and spat some more before flickering and vanishing, its progenitor spinning away from where he had been standing in Phantom Lord's true Guild Hall to keep the spell going, stomping away to his chambers to don his battle attire and leaving a trembling duo of Juvia and Sol behind - to face Aria, taking in the appearance of the green-clad giant pulling himself from the brickwork.

"You'd be Aria, then." He noted, his voice most level but the snapping, coruscating arcs of golden energy flickering around him betraying his true state. "I guess even Phantom Lord's S-Class Mages are incapable of doing anything but attacking from behind."

The large Airspace user clambered to his feet, turning unerringly to face Fairy Tail's Guild Master as the air currents in the room fed him information on where the old man stood, as well as the effect he was having on the environment.

Behind his blindfold, Aria began to sweat as the very presence of Makarov's magical power disrupted the flows of air and Ethernano in the room so much that, should he dare try to dissolve into the air, the odds of being able to remain cohesive and pull himself together at the end were too low to risk it.

"Oh, I am so sorrowful..." He declared, bringing his hands up to point at Makarov. "That I must do battle with such a great Mage...SUCH SORROW! **ZETSU!"**

The spell kicked in, generating dozens of compressed Airspaces and sending them hurtling toward Makarov - invisible, but no less devastating when they hit their target, Aria had demolished buildings with this attack.

With one swipe of Makarov's arm, a shining golden circle formed in front of him, effortlessly halting each blast in its tracks before pausing in its rotation and rapidly reversing direction, growing smaller and denser before erupting forward in a spear of golden energy.

With his blindfold in place Aria couldn't appreciate the beauty of Makarov's Magic - he just felt the spike of power that screamed _DANGER_ and immediately launched himself sideways, the currents in the room painting the picture of the wall behind him tearing away in the wake of the strike, which erupted from the side of the building and extended over the countryside for an instant like a shooting star.

Shivering as he realised that, if not for his Airspace allowing him the power of flight and the ability to move swiftly even without teleporting, that single strike may well have been the end of him, Aria once more turned to face Makarov, whose voice remained perfectly level as he spoke up again. "I suppose I can see why you're all such cowards, with attacks that weak."

Grimacing, Aria reached upwards. He wasn't going to wait to receive an injury before unleashing his full power here; if he wanted a chance at victory, he was going to need to pull out every trick he had.

Not bothering with his usual careful reveal, the Airspace Mage ripped the cloth away from his eyes before opening them wide, revealing that instead of a normal iris and pupil, his eyes had only four purple quarter-circles, arranged like petals.

With the removal of the blindfold, Aria's own power began rising - enough so that the air currents in the room began coming back under his control, and the S-Class Mage felt some of his confidence returning. After all, Jose had told them before that he was more than a match for Makarov - the man must have deteriorated in his old age, so surely he had a chance here!

"To be forced to remove my blindfold so early - IS TRULY SORROWFUL!" The larger man declared, tears falling from his revealed eyes as he brought his hands up once more - both cupped, with the left hand on top and the right below, joined at the heels. "But for a great Mage like you to be the focus of my most powerful technique...is EVEN MORE SORROWFUL!"

Bawling like a child while Makarov looked on with the kind of shadowed calm that indicated he was well and truly _done with this shit,_ Aria's full magical power rose and surged forward with the air currents in the room as he yelled his incantation. **"Airspace of Death - ZERO!"**

The wind around Aria seemed to curl and condense, spiralling around the large figure in the form of smoke. Dirty-golden specks of light began to appear like ailing stars, spread throughout as the spell began to take on a life of its own - a life that needed to grow, needed to live, needed to _devour_.

In the space of a few seconds, Aria let the spell fly, the smoky vortex with its insatiable appetite for life rushing forward to claim the aged yet abundant lifeforce in front of it.

Makarov watched the onrushing Magic for a moment, features inscrutable and eyes hidden in the shadows of the room, where the only remaining light came from Aria's glowing eyes and the moonlight pouring through the demolished portion of the wall and the ceiling which had fallen with it. Then, with a sigh, he traced a pattern in the air, golden light following the movements of his fingers as surely as ink followed a pen, before raising a single hand in front of him, pinky and ring curled over thumb, pointer and index raised, and making a sharp downwards gesture.

Just as the deadly spell reached Makarov, the pattern he had drawn in the air exploded into radiant life, spreading through the space in front of him and forming symbols whose meaning would be incomprehensible to all but a dedicated few.

The wall of characters stood firm in the face of Zero, the two magical powers crashing together as Aria's spell howled and tore at the wall of unmoving golden light.

From where he stood, hands still before him, pouring more and more of his magical power into the attack, Aria began to feel doubt. _'What...is this?'_ Looking through his vortex of smoke, all he could see was the glowing golden light of Makarov's Magic - the man himself barely a silhouette. _'My most powerful spell...isn't having any effect at all?!'_

Looking on from behind his unyielding defence, Makarov spat sideways on the ground as Zero kept trying to break through his barrier. "A Magic designed to do nothing but kill..." He growled, glowering at the smoke beyond the light. "Mages like you are a disgrace to everything I stand for."

His right hand still before him forming the half-Ram seal, Fairy Tail's Guild Master brought up his left hand, tracing another pattern in glowing light as if he _wasn't_ holding back Death Magic with his other hand. "I will not allow..."

The pattern was completed, the lines drawn. "Someone like you..."

Golden light, shining like the sun, surged from the dots and joining lines, outshining even the barrier as they unfolded into five circles - four small, spinning even as they raced around the larger, central circle's circumference at equidistant points. "TO BE ANYWHERE NEAR MY CHILDREN!"

The five circles stopped spinning, having reached such a brightness that the tears running down Aria's cheeks were no longer an act, but from the strain of keeping them open in the face of such radiance. As he felt the amount of magical power that had been brought to bear on him, the Airspace Mage brought up all the remaining magical power he had in what he knew was a futile effort.

 **"Light Magic..."** Makarov growled, raising his flattened left hand above his head before bringing it down in a chopping motion. **"Svet Kop'ye!"**

The golden circles in front of the Guild Master each shrank in an instant, down to the size of an apple - then, they erupted forward in five solid lances of glowing energy, each seeking Aria. A foot after leaving the circle, the five lances became fifteen, when the main shafts each sprouted another two spears. Those spears then split again a foot later, bringing the number to thirty-five.

Thus it went that, in the seconds it took for Makarov's strike to pierce straight through the Zero as if it wasn't even there and cross the fifteen feet between the elderly man and Aria, the number of lances grew to the point that they tore into the walls, dragging the crumbling stone with them as golden light subsumed everything in a path of utter devastation before the Guild Master - leaving Aria to let loose one last scream of "HOW SORROWFUL!" before he too vanished into the golden glow.

* * *

 _On the Lower Floor_

Gajeel growled once again while he had air in his lungs, grimacing in a mix of pain and bloodthirst as he did his best to ignore the burns and bruises he was now covered in.

The other Dragon Slayer fought like a man possessed, never letting up and never getting distracted, shrugging off the blows and slashes he took in the pursuit of Gajeel as he did his utmost to fulfil the promise he'd made at the start of their feet.

The Iron Dragon Slayer was feeling more alive than he had in years, his instincts running full-bore and his Magic roaring a battle cry in his veins as he battled for supremacy over this interloper - but as much as he was enjoying it, this fight should have been over long ago.

The shaking in the building had died down some for a little while - but it was back now and worse than ever, which probably meant that the fairy Guild Master wasn't down yet. What could have gone wrong? Jose had gloated about how well he knew Makarov for ages when he was concocting this plan - there should have been no way that he wouldn't leave himself wide open with a distraction like an injured member of his Guild.

Unless...they didn't have the distraction?

A small part of Gajeel began to debate whether he should thank Sol and Juvia for this fight, or if he should just beat the shit out of them for fucking up their _one goddamn job._ How hard could it be to kidnap some runaway rich girl?! Her Guild was already out of town, and she herself was a Celestial Spirit Mage - who everyone _knew_ were totally fucking useless without their keys!

Shaking off the thought, Gajeel prepared himself to charge forward to start the next exchange of blows with his opponent - but was distracted, like everyone else in the room, when the hall's roof was torn away, leaving the interior to be bathed in a glow like the sun had suddenly come down to Earthland.

The cries and screams of Phantom Lord, which persisted even as they became hoarse over the course of the battle (which, if Gajeel was honest, was really more of a wholesale slaughter - for fuck's sake, even the no-names in that damn Guild were worth ten of the weaklings Jose had let pollute Phantom!), reached a new crescendo as what could only be Master Makarov's spell brought noon to midnight, and with it the almost certain knowledge (to Gajeel at least) that Aria was well and truly out of the game.

 _'Oh, Jose is going to be_ pissed. _'_

A moment later, a figure fell from above and crashed down in the centre of the room - a large figure in an even larger green coat, which now seemed to have been almost bleached, as if by prolonged exposure to the sun.

Aria's hat was gone, either disintegrated or floating off somewhere, while he had apparently removed his blindfold - for all the good it had done. All of him, indeed, seemed to have suffered the same kind of bleaching - while at the same time he was covered in scorch marks, abrasions and small cuts, not counting the significant crater he had made when he fell from what remained of the top floor.

The battle paused, the participants looking up - and, at the sight of a small, glowing figure standing on the lip of what had once been the hall's attached tower, the Fairy Tail members began to yell in approval, laying into their opponents with even more vigour as Phantom's morale crumbled.

Gajeel grimaced even further - somehow, Master Jose's plan had come tumbling down around his pointed ears, and the anticipated morale-breaking incapacitation of Fairy Tail's Guild Master wasn't going to happen.

"Aria's been defeated!" Some unimportant mook yelled, the cry echoing around the hall, sinking in more and more until the one word that Gajeel knew would break the camel's back was sounded.

"RETREAT!" Someone yelled, barely audible over the din but _audible_ \- and that was the important bit. "RETREAT!"

The call began to spread, and the line that Phantom were _barely_ holding shattered like so much glass. The Mages turned tail and ran, abandoning all attempts to fight in favour of a flat-out evacuation.

Gajeel ground his teeth, his anger rising like a dragon in its own right as he stared at the retreating cowards - but, as he was reminded when he had to bring up his armoured arm sharply to intercept a blazing kick from the other Dragon Slayer in the room, he couldn't pay them the attention needed to beat them back into submission.

He knew he had to break away - he needed to get back to Master Jose, to get new instructions since the plan was so comprehensively fucked. But Gajeel Redfox didn't _run_ \- he might _leave_ , when he had accomplished his job and he had his satisfaction, but if he went now it would be _running_ , and _the strong didn't run._

For the first time in years, Gajeel's instinct-driven drive to be the strongest - instincts that, ironically enough, Jose himself had helped develop - came into conflict with his need to obey the Phantom Lord Guild Master, and the Dragon Slayer struggled with deciding which was more important to him.

 _'...Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it_ _damn it_ _damn it!'_

Gajeel met the next wild haymaker with a two-handed parry, knocking the blow wide only to bring his clasped hands back around in a reverse-hammerblow that lifted Natsu from his feet and launched him backwards across the room to bounce across the wooden floor.

"DAAAAMN IIIIT!" Gajeel screamed to the ceiling, before jabbing a finger towards the rising figure of Natsu with anger blazing almost as bright in his eyes as it did in the Fire Dragon Slayer's. "WE _WILL_ FINISH THIS!" He declared, before turning around and sprinting for the back of the hall, not bothering to use a door and instead just charging straight through the wall with iron arms crossed before him.

As he began to run in the direction of Phantom Lord's _true_ Guild Hall, he cursed anything and everything in his mind - while that same small part of him that _wasn't_ currently busy finding new and inventive ways to deform the human body or insult someone's lineage noted that, in the end, he had chosen Jose over strength. He had decided that another person and their beliefs were more important than him and his own.

He had...acted like that trash in Magnolia.

As he disappeared into the night, Gajeel barely kept from screaming his rage at the heavens - while the throbbing of the bruises on his arm somehow made itself known amid all his other myriad injuries...

And a part of him continued to think.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **Yo! How's everyone doing? Well, I hope - it wouldn't do to have my audience be too sick to pay my story their full attention, ne?**

 **Anyway, so this chapter's coming out along with a wave of changes to the other chapters - nothing incredibly drastic, but I wanted to be sure that the Declan in past chapters fits with the one I'm writing now, since I've settled into the idea of who and how I want to write. The biggest change was splitting the first chapter into two parts, since it ended up being so long, which is why there were two uploads tonight but only one 'new' chapter.**

 **Okay, turning to reviews...**

 **To answer the questions I was asked -**

 **-'AngelFaux', Ch. 12, Mar 21 - No, that wasn't a typo - the Japanese probably doesn't make any goddamn sense, but I was looking for an attack name and that just popped into my head. I liked it, so I rolled with it.**

 **-Finder18, Ch. 12, Mar 22 - I've mentioned this before, but the plan is for Declan and Lucy to end up together, yes. That's the goal I'm aiming for, and since (for my character at least) a multi-pairing wouldn't make any real sense, I'm going to try and satisfy my inner shipper by seeing how far along I can realistically prod some of the canon/fanon pairings.**

 **Now, as to the hints I gave in the last chapter -**

 **I've had a few guesses, so I thought I'd address those.**

 **-Zeru'xil, Biotics** _was_ **a fairly obvious guess, but that's not it.**

 **-'Guest', I** _won't_ **tell you it's the Rinnegan, because it** _isn't_ **.**

 **-HeartlessNobody13, Yours was the most comprehensive and, from my view at least, most unexpected guess - it wasn't** _right_ **, but it was well made all the same. 'cane-jian', you get a mention here too, since you drew the same conclusion.**

 **I'd really expected the first two guesses, but that last one really got me - then, I wondered just how obvious I'd made it, so I looked back at the hints I gave.**

 **Turns out that, apparently, 2AM Teninshigen is shit at leaving clues (yeah, I don't sleep, I write - perhaps not the best idea, in retrospect). The first two are actually alright - in fact, for the second hint, it's the** _very first_ **non-Fairy Tail Japanese property I referenced in the story that I drew the ability from, to make things that much easier (and to make you read chapter one again, :P), while the first hint was fairly self-explanatory.**

 **The third hint though...I have no idea what I was thinking. Please, just...ignore that one. Hell, I** _wrote_ **it and I have no idea how that was meant to help.**

 **Oh, well - you live and learn I guess.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed the chapter - if you have anything to say about it or any of the previous chapters now that they've been re-written, feel free to make suggestions or commentary via PM or review; I'll take it all under advisement, though whether I actually make suggested changes will be at my discretion.**

 **Oh, and a mention of thanks to Klutzybear and a recognition of achievement for leaving the longest review yet made for this story - thanks!**


	15. XIV - Overture

Makarov sat on the bar in Fairy Tail's basement level, still wearing his Wizard Saint uniform, and looked out over his Guild.

His children were in high spirits - a sight for sore eyes, after last night, but one that worried the old Guild Master. After all, for all the Mages they'd incapacitated last night, dozens had still managed to flee the scene - including that Iron Dragon Slayer and, according to Macao and Wakabe's report, two of the remaining three Element Four members, while the final member of the quartet had yet to show his face.

Most of Phantom Lord's heavy hitters were still at large, as were Jose and enough cannon fodder to count if they were thrown in the right place. Makarov might prefer to live his life as an eccentric, irritating, perverted old man...but he had worked too hard and lived too long to ever forget the lessons that had been beaten into his head and scarred onto his body.

With a minor application of Air Magic, the sound of his knuckles rapping on the wooden surface below him echoed out into the room, interrupting the conversations and drawing all attention to him.

Internally, he sighed. No matter how many times something like this happened, he could never feel anything but guilt for taking the smiles off his children's faces. "Alright everyone, listen up." He began, standing up to make sure everyone could see him. "We dealt Phantom Lord a hearty blow last night..."

Makarov waited a few moments for the cheers to pass, a smirk pulling at the corner of his lips for a moment before he grew serious again. "But the fight isn't over yet.

"Three members of the Element Four are still at large, as are Master Jose and Iron Dragon Gajeel."

Makarov almost imagined he could feel Natsu's growl in his bones as he said the name, even though the Dragon Slayer had run off to the Magnolia Hospital to check on Declan and Lucy after they'd returned to Magnolia. Gray and Erza had stayed behind, the former because ice packs were in heavy demand for the large number of Mages who had been bruised during the previous night's fighting and the latter because she was trying her hand at nursing.

Makarov made a mental note to suggest she practice her first aid on the enemy next time.

"We don't know where they went, or what their plans are - but I don't believe they'll stop coming after us just because of last night's setback."

Men and women started looking to one another, grimacing as they considered their injuries. Wakaba idly checked his tobacco pouch, while Alzack spun out the cylinder of his revolver and Bisca started summoning her guns to check them over on a nearby table.

"But that's no reason for fear!" Makarov declared, clenching his fists as his voice rose. "No matter how many times they come for us, no matter their numbers or their rankings, Phantom Lord are no threat to us." Raising one fist into the air, the Guild Master began to glow golden, like the sun was rising behind him. "Where they turn on each other at every turn, deciding that power lies in strength of Magic alone, we know better! We are Fairy Tail! We are family! And so long as we stand together, _we will never fall!"_

A roar of approval went up from the Mages, and Makarov could feel the unity racing through the room, sparking between magical signatures like a current through a circuit, joining all of his children together.

He smiled. _'So you want to prove Phantom Lord's superiority, Jose? Come and try it - we'll kick you all the way down to the bottom of the heap where you belong!'_

* * *

 _Magnolia Hospital_

"...and so then I was all, ' _I'm going to burn you into ash!_ ', and I punched him into the ceiling like WHAM!"

To illustrate his point, Natsu executed a sharp uppercut with his right arm, narrowly avoiding knocking Happy off his perch on the table beside the bed.

He was standing in Declan's hospital room, which had bays for another five people but wasn't using them at the moment. This suited the occupants just fine, particularly with a boisterous Dragon Slayer around, since Levy had been keeping Lucy's thoughts occupied for most of the night and wouldn't have wanted other people listening in.

Jet and Droy had understood that, but hadn't been willing to leave the room just in case - even if Macao and Wakaba had been running decoy, the two teens had been jumpy ever since they left the southern park, and so they had pulled up seats on the opposite side of the room. Beside the door and facing the window, so they could get the jump on anyone walking into the room or have a heads-up on anyone approaching in a less orthodox manner.

Keeping an eye out for ambushes was a necessary skill for explorers and archaeologists - they'd seen teams go through all the trouble of raiding a tomb or ancient ruin just to get jumped by someone who had come along earlier and lain in wait too often, had _been_ that team being ambushed once too often, to not keep an eye on their surroundings.

Such was the issue with having jobs that could be advertised in more than one Guild - Fairy Tail, for all its reputation for collateral damage, were far and away among the most humanitarian and moral of the Guilds in Fiore, with only Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, Quatro Cerberus and a few others having the same sense of fair play and the same willingness to treat their members as more than simply colleagues.

It was an unfortunate state of affairs, but such was the way of things - there were a great many Guilds, only so many jobs, and _far_ too many bills and taxes to pay.

Of course, these issues could probably have been addressed by the Magic Council - but, for all the power that may have been vested in them, everything they touched seemed to turn to shit, particularly in recent years.

Still, it had provided an environment well-suited to producing strong Mages through adversity alone if nothing else, and so Jet and Droy kept wary eyes on the room's entrances while their leader sat on one side of Ross' bed, Lucy sitting on the other side, with the blunette doing her best to keep the blonde's spirits up.

In particular, she had wanted to make sure that Lucy didn't feel the need to go wandering to clear her head or somesuch. While Macao and Wakaba had told Lucy that Declan might be targeted by Phantom Lord, they had clued Shadow Gear into the truth - that it was Lucy herself who was their target, and as such she needed to stay out of sight as much as possible while the other Guild were still a threat.

So, Levy had done her best to tease and prod Lucy into speaking her mind and talking through her thought processes and feelings, hoping to keep the Celestial Spirit Mage close at hand.

Natsu's entrance had, at least, provided hope - he had spent the last fifteen minutes regaling them with tales of the Guild's assault on Phantom Lord, complete with sound effects (and occasional bursts of flame, though whether those were intentional or not was debatable), and all of the Mages present had listened with satisfied smiles. They may not have been able to go along with the assault force, but hearing that Phantom Lord had been handed a stinging defeat was heartening.

"So then, the danger's over?" Levy asked, interrupting Natsu's story but feeling her heart sink a bit when the Dragon Slayer scowled.

"Not yet. Gramps kicked this big green guy's ass, and he was apparently one of those Element Four guys - and we beat up _loads_ of people. But that Master Hose guy wasn't there, and that bolts-for-brains bastard ran away before I could finish kicking his teeth in." The scowl deepened, and Natsu flopped down into sitting on one of the unoccupied beds, then fell backward so he was lying down, facing the ceiling. "Bastards...they started this fight, and then they ran away? It makes me want to beat them up even more!"

"Aye!" Happy offered from the bedside cabinet, his tail waving in agitation as he looked between Lucy's clenched fists and the blank expression of the comatose Declan.

"So they're still out there..." Lucy whispered, her fists clenched in her lap, head bowed and her teeth sinking into her lower lip.

Natsu looked up from where he had laid down, opening his mouth to speak - but then his eyes went a bit unfocussed, and he cocked his head to the side as if he was listening to something.

A few moments later, he hopped up off the bed and started heading for the door, pausing to cup his hands around his mouth when he drew even with Jet and Droy, lowering his voice.

 _"Warren just called me - everyone at the Guild's getting ready for whatever the Phantom bastards try next, so you guys keep guarding Lucy, alright?"_

Unfortunately, no one had ever accused Natsu Dragneel of knowing how to keep his volume under control.

Lucy's head jerked up, just in time to see Natsu run out of the door, Happy sprouting wings and following close behind him, and catch the moment when Levy, Jet and Droy all froze, glanced at one another and collectively flinched.

"Levy..." Lucy began, her hands clenching even tighter as the Solid Script Mage felt sweat begin to bead on her forehead. "What did Natsu mean _keep guarding Lucy?"_

Levy gulped - and, unfortunately, no one had ever accused Levy McGarden of being a good liar.

* * *

 _Fairy Tail Guild Hall_

When Natsu got back to the mess of rubble and pinned walls which was what remained of his childhood home, it was to find his family all busy bringing stacks of crates and boxes up from the basement and out into the area behind the Guild.

"Oi, Natsu!" Gray called from where he was toting a crate over each shoulder, emerging from the front door through the path Declan had cleared the day before. "How're the guys at the hospital?"

"They're fine!" The Dragon Slayer called back, joining the line of Mages cycling back into the basement to get more boxes. "Levy, Jet and Droy are still keeping an eye on Lucy - they'll definitely keep her and Declan safe!"

"Oh?"

Natsu abruptly froze in place, as the voice coming from behind him sent shivers up and down his spine.

That was the tone _Erza_ used - the one that meant he was five seconds from a beating.

Turning around slowly, he found himself faced with a glaring Lucy, with a sheepish-looking Shadow Gear shuffling their feet behind her and looking everywhere but at their fellow Mages.

"So I'm supposed to just stay out of this?" Lucy asked, still glaring, as Natsu felt sweat beading on his forehead - something which happened quite often, despite his immunity to temperature extremes.

"Um..." Natsu tried to respond, but found himself cut off.

"Levy already told me - two of the Element Four were _in the hospital looking for me,_ and I didn't even know about it?!"

Natsu, Gray, and several other nearby Mages gulped simultaneously as Lucy's hands tightened into fists with audible creaks.

"If it's my fault this is happening," she shouted, "then I should be helping! What kind of Fairy Tail Mage would I be if I just hid away and did nothing when my Guild was in danger because of me?!"

At that point, Natsu finally broke out of his shivers. "Hey, don't say it like that!" He declared, moving forward. "It's not your fault this stuff's happening! It's just because those freaky Phantoms are morons!"

"Then why were they there for _me?!_ " Lucy demanded, hands shaking at her sides. "If it's not because of me, why were Levy, Jet, Droy, Wakaba and Macao all keeping watch on me?!"

Natsu scowled, searching for an answer - but another voice intruded before he could find one. "That's because we were out."

Gray, who had set down the crates he was carrying, approached with his usual slouch - and his only slightly less usual lack of a shirt. "Since the rest of us were all out beating the shit out of Phantom, we couldn't stay. So, Shadow Gear and the geezers did it for us."

Lucy turned on him, and the Ice Mage continued. "Even if Phantom weren't after you, it'd be the same."

"But _why?_ " She asked again, this time with her head bowed, as her fingers brushed the Keys on her belt. "Because I'm _weak?_ "

"Like Hell!" Natsu declared, and Gray nodded.

"Like flame-brain said - it ain't like that. But since Declan's still resting up, someone's gotta keep an eye on you for him."

Lucy looked back up at Gray quickly, fingers still on her Keys. "...He really has been doing that, hasn't he?" She finally replied, her voice low. "Ever since we arrived in Magnolia, he's been looking after me..."

The clink of metal on metal increased as her grip tightened. "My apartment, the Everlue job, Lullaby, Galuna...he's been helping me from the start."

At ground level, Happy - who was teetering from step to step due to the weight of the Lacrima he was holding over his head with both paws - moved past, staggering like a drunk. "He lo~ves you!" He declared, raising one paw in front of his mouth - causing the crystal to fall on his head and start rolling away, the cat taking a few moments to cradle his skull before chasing after it.

Lucy flinched bodily, flushing a brilliant red before shaking it off, her fingers finding their way to two Keys in particular - Virgo, the Maiden; and Sagittarius, the Archer.

"...Then it's all the more reason I shouldn't be hiding."

Both Natsu and Gray watched as Lucy's eyes hardened, the Keys on her belt shining in the light a bit too brightly to seem natural. "Declan's been helping me from the start...so I need to start standing on my own! I need to show him I can stand beside him like a proper partner, not just someone he needs to look after!"

A few moments passed as Natsu and Gray glanced at one another, before another new voice called to them. "A fine resolution!"

Erza stepped out of the lines of moving Mages, parting them like water around her - a stack of crates balanced between her arms. "Your determination is commendable, Lucy!" She declared, before balancing her entire load on one arm and reaching up to remove one container from the top, placing it into Lucy's hands - an act which caused the Celestial Spirit Mage's knees to shift several degrees as her arms trembled. "Now, let's get to work - we expect Phantom Lord to make their next strike soon!"

"R...right..." Lucy gasped, staggering away in much the same fashion as Happy had done, aiming in the general direction of where the crates were being piled according to their contents.

As the blonde moved away, Erza nodded to herself, before turning to Gray and Natsu to level a _look_ at them. "Well? Why are you just standing around?"

The two Mages glanced at one another, then immediately raced off toward the basement.

"I bet I can carry more crates than you, flame-brain!"

"Bring it, you damn stripper!"

"I'm not a-!" There was a moment of silence, then a shout. "DAMMIT!"

Erza shook her head as the teens vanished into the Guild's remains, then turned to Shadow Gear - all of whom abruptly shot to attention as her gaze fell on them.

"...I'm sorry, Erza." Levy muttered, her eyes falling. "I just panicked, and I told her everything..."

The redhead shook her head. "It's perfectly alright, Levy - you did your best."

Erza narrowed her eyes slightly as what was meant to be a reassurance caused tightened features and fists in all three members of Shadow Gear.

"...We tried our best against the Iron Dragon, too." Levy finally said, face still turned downwards. "And it just wasn't enough then, either..."

Her eyes softening, Erza nodded. "You shouldn't allow yourselves to be brought down by what happened." She told them. "Iron Dragon Gajeel was an opponent you were ill-equipped to face - and Declan knew what he was doing when he intervened. It was his choice."

"...Right." Levy muttered, before shaking herself. "I'm going to go and ask the Master if there's anything he wants me to do," she declared, before turning to Jet and Droy. "You guys should probably help everyone else."

The two other members of Shadow Gear frowned, then nodded before all three Mages headed off in the same direction Natsu and Gray had gone earlier - and were now emerging from, each carrying a stack of crates that seemed improbably tall to have been built up in the basement.

Erza watched them go with a light sigh, then turned to follow, so she could put down her own half-forgotten tower of crates...

Just in time to hear Bisca shout from where the Master had lifted her, up on top of the still-stable structure of the Guild Hall where she could keep an eye on their surroundings for incoming threats. "Out in the bay!" Her voice called down, attracting the attention of everyone still outside the Guild. "They're coming from the water!"

Fairy Tail spun around together to look out over the water, searching for whatever their sharpshooter had spotted -

And a moment later, they realised that, no, that _wasn't_ a mountain on the other side of the lake, but a _building_ \- a building which was _walking towards them._

There was stupefied gaping from one and all for several seconds, before the Master's voice broke through the shock. "DOUBLE TIME!" He declared, retrieving Bisca from atop the building and placing her down. "Laki, Gray, Reedus, give us cover! Everyone else, get behind it and get the Lacrima ready!"

The Mages snapped into motion, Ice-Make, Wood-Make and Pict Magic all went to work, and the crates which had been dragged up from the basement were all pulled behind the rapidly-rising barricades.

Makarov strode forward through the chaos, his children avoiding him without even conscious thought, and was joined moments later by Erza. They both walked to the edge of the ground beyond Fairy Tail, glaring out across the water at their approaching enemy.

At its base, it looked as if some deity had reached down to Earthland and scooped out a handful of its surface, leaving a hemisphere of stone and crumbling earth, trailing roots below it. As if by coincidence, atop that hemisphere was perched a building - a large castle, seven storeys in the main buildings topped with domes and the towers at its corners reaching even higher.

And keeping the whole assembly moving, the stone on which the building rested was sprouting six massive, brassy metallic limbs, each with two joints, giving the impression of an insect.

And of course, flying high atop its towers, the emblem of Phantom Lord was emblazoned on every flag.

"What a monstrosity..." Makarov muttered, eyeing it distastefully. "When did Guild Halls stop being homes and turn into status symbols?"

"Forgive me Master," Erza responded, "but I very much doubt any member of that Guild sees such a place as their home."

The old man glanced at the redhead out of the corner of his eye. "You might well be surprised, Erza." He told her, turning back to the advancing Guild Hall. "In many Dark Guilds, the very members themselves may be victims. Sometimes, there is simply no better place for them to go - or so they believe."

A flicker of golden light curled away from Makarov as his brow furrowed. "And people like Jose are all too happy to let that belief sink in."

When Phantom's Guild Hall had closed to being with a hundred metres of the shore, it abruptly dropped, the legs folding away as the stony base fell into the water with a resounding _crash_ , beginning a wave that grew as it charged towards Fairy Tail. It gained height rapidly, pulling more and more water into itelf as it advanced, until it began to reach the height of Fairy Tail itself.

Makarov looked at the oncoming wall of water and snorted. "Erza."

The redhead nodded, unsheathing the sword at her side and taking two steps forward into the surf, eyeing the incoming wave. It was still a fair ways from the shore - almost twenty-five metres to go, by her reckoning.

Child's play.

Closing her eyes, the Titania leaned forward and took a deep breath...

Then she _swung_ , and there was not one wave, but two.

From the height of Erza's torso and down, the wave continued - but with so much of its mass sheered away, its momentum plummeted, leaving what arrived at the shore as no more than a slightly more powerful wave than usual - going completely unnoticed by the sure-footed S-Class Mage.

Everything which had been riding above that level continued on for several more metres, still curling forward - but it rapidly ran out of material to sustain itself and collapsed, resulting in a massive spray as the main body of the wave dropped back into the lake, creating a few more above-average waves, but nothing with any true impact.

Grinning as Erza returned to dry land, Makarov turned back to the Phantom Lord Guild Hall as he felt Jose's Magic spike for a moment, his expression becoming a frown as a voice began to speak.

 **"FAIRY TAIL!"**

All of the Mages who had been paying attention to anything apart from Phantom Lord's Guild Hall (which really wasn't that many of them) snapped their eyes around to focus on it as a booming, amplified voice crossed the water to them.

 **"BEFORE YOU STANDS THE PINNACLE OF PHANTOM LORD'S MIGHT!"** The voice of Jose Porla declared. **"WITH THIS, PHANTOM LORD IS GUARANTEED TO BE VICTORIOUS IN ANY BATTLE!"**

Makarov, where he was standing, let out a sigh. "The bastard likes the sound of his own voice."

 **"BUT I AM NOT AN UNREASONABLE MAN!"** The voice declared. **"I WILL ALLOW FAIRY TAIL TO EXIST AFTER TODAY ON TWO CONDITIONS!**

 **"THE FIRST, IS THAT YOU WILL BECOME VASSALS TO PHANTOM LORD! THE JOBS AND MONEY WHICH GO TO YOU WILL BE PASSED ON TO MY GUILD, AND YOUR MAGES WILL BECOME MINE!"**

If Jose had been able to _see_ the figures on the shoreline, he would have known the answer to his question before he'd even posed it by the murderous looks the members of Fairy Tail were sporting - but as it was, he continued.

 **"THE SECOND, IS THAT YOU WILL HAND OVER LUCY HEARTFILIA IMMEDIATELY SO SHE CAN BE RETURNED TO HER FATHER!"**

There was a moment where the murderous atmosphere hanging over the area turned to confusion - then, comprehension dawned, as a slightly trembling figure moved forward through the crowd of Mages, out from behind their cover, and shouted right back across the water, despite the distance between them and the speaker.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING?!" Lucy screamed back to Jose, trembling where she stood in a mix of emotions not even she herself could reliably name. "THAT MAN...HE COULDN'T CARE LESS ABOUT ME!"

 **"OH?"** The voice questioned, Lucy's words apparently carrying across the distance. **"AND YET, HE WAS THE ONE WHO HIRED US TO TAKE YOU BACK - AND GAVE US THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO STRIKE AT FAIRY TAIL!"**

Lucy froze in place - eyes uncomprehending, most of the trembling stopped in exchange for her body seeming to fall still, as if the energy had left her. "No..." She whispered. "But, that would mean..."

 **"INDEED!"** The voice declared, drawing Makarov's attention - apparently that monstrosity of a Guild Hall could amplify incoming sound just as much as it could outgoing sound. That was beyond Jose's skill-set - just who had built that thing? **"I SHOULD REALLY THANK YOU, LUCY HEARTFILIA _-SAMA;_ " **The sarcastic drawl on the honorific tainting whatever respect it might have suggested. **"IF YOU HADN'T RUN AWAY FROM YOUR HOME AND HIDDEN YOURSELF AWAY AMONG THE TRASH IN THAT GUILD, NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE!"**

What followed over the sound system was a laugh so dripping in smug, self-satisfied madness that it dripped through the air like sludge, dirty and tainted as Lucy's hand covered her mouth, breaths being taken in among the Mages to shout as the air of murder returned, Fairy Tail ready to stand up for its own -

Only to be cut off by the _scream_ of air parting around something that was never meant to fly.

The sound of forcibly displaced air was followed moments later by the sensation to accompany it as the atmosphere was torn asunder in the wake of one of the massive, iron columns Gajeel had left embedded in the Fairy Tail Guild Hall as it went flying over their heads at speeds nothing of that size should have been able to achieve in nature.

The head of the column glowed a cherry red as it flew, crossing the hundred metres in moments before impacting halfway up the Phantom Lord Guild Hall and a little off-centre. The wall exploded at the first touch, the floor beyond ruined beyond repair as the mass of iron kept going, eventually breaking through the other side of the building and continuing across the courtyard in the castle's centre before embedding itself in the wall of the rear building.

A few seconds later, its weight overcame its horizontal momentum and the rear end finally fell down, smashing the wall below its resting point before tearing its head from the stone, resulting in yet more damage as it keeled over backwards and finally came to a rest with its head buried in the stones of the courtyard, toppling over and, just to make a point, pulverizing the statue of Jose which stood in the garden there.

There were a few moments of silence following the jetstream, as Fairy Tail watched a significant portion of Phantom Lord's wall collapse due to a loss of structural integrity, and Jose tried to remember how to close his jaw so he could form words again...

"I hope you're taking notes, Redfox!" A voice called out. "Maybe you'll be able to knock over buildings blocks one day if you practice!"

Lucy's empty stare vanished in a blink as the voice registered, and she spun in place along with the rest of Fairy Tail -

To find Declan Ross standing beside the hole in the Guild Hall where the iron column had been, looking pale and supporting himself on a crutch with his right arm, but glaring at Phantom Lord nonetheless.

* * *

 _Declan's POV_

As it turned out, waking up after having a Dragon Slayer beat most of the life out of me was a less than pleasant experience.

I was well used to waking up in such a way though, and to date none of my mornings had managed to suck as badly as that first awakening in Earthland, so I tried to sit up and get out of the hospital bed I was in...only to discover that most of the muscles in my abdomen weren't listening to me, and that my midsection was about as flexible as concrete.

Thankfully, rather than finding out Gajeel had managed to break my back or something during our fight, I was told that I was currently wrapped in stasis bandages - which were keeping my muscles held in place, along with my organs and bones, though everything was still _working_.

I had no idea how that worked, but I accepted that I was biology-illiterate and moved on, since I quickly realised what had woken me up when the doctor told me I should still have been sleeping.

 _The sound of a death-rattle; the cold touch of bones long buried; the chill down my spine of feet on my grave; the smell of loam and embalming fluid; time, ancient and looming, grinding everything before it to dust._

Phantom Lord had come to Magnolia, and I was needed.

I would definitely pay the hospital back for the window - the crutch too, if I broke it...and that seemed a bit more than just 'likely' to happen.

When I reached the Guild, I had heard everything since Jose opened his mouth, and his attempt to break my partner's spirit didn't go down well with me.

Unfortunately for his house/mansion/castle/overcompensation-for-his-lack-of-masculinity, I had developed a habit of throwing things at people who displeased me since I got back from Galuna Island...

But I didn't happen to have any bricks handy - and nor was he someone that a teammate of mine needed to reconcile with, meaning I had to steer clear of giving them my best shot.

The opportunity to raise one big middle finger to Gajeel was icing on the cake, really.

"Declan...?!"

I turned away from glaring at where Jose was probably standing in the building to face Lucy, who was standing near the shoreline - out in front of the fortifications which had sprung up in front of the Guild in the form of flower-shaped icy walls, palisades of wooden columns and what appeared to be castle walls, several bricks thick and complete with crenellations.

I had no idea who had done the latter, but it was a question for another day.

I had been able to feel Makarov from halfway to the Guild - a good sign that things had gone as I'd hoped they would, although the fact that Phantom had even been able to come back for a round 2 meant they hadn't gone as well as possible.

"Hey." I waved with my left arm, wincing a bit as I did so, before dropping it down to my side as the blonde's expression turned worried.

"...How much of that did you hear?"

 _'Ah. I guess I interrupted the others' 'we'll die first' line.'_

Moving forward, in an action which was less walking and more floating a little off the ground and pulling myself forward with the crutch, I shrugged nonchalantly - or tried to, but cut the motion off halfway when my shoulder protested the motion. "Eh, I heard enough."

I didn't like seeing the way she seemed to fold into herself when I said that, but it _did_ make the reaction sweeter. "To think, all this time my partner really _was_ a princess!" I laughed, drawing Lucy's eyes back up as I did so, and shook my head. "It's like a story - a princess escapes her gilded cage to go and seek her fortune in the world, only to gather a group of followers to go on adventures with."

I tapped my chin, chuckling still. "Although, I'm fairly sure that dragons are meant to be the _an_ tagonists."

Letting go of my laughter with a relaxing sigh, I rested a hand on Lucy's shoulder. "Ah, I guess it can't be helped - you're just the kind of person that people can't help but follow."

I could feel my partner's shoulder shaking a bit under my hand, and I didn't say anything about it as she reached up and cuffed me on the back of the head - the gentlest blow she'd yet dealt me. "Idiot..." She muttered, looking away from me but smiling enough that I could still see the corner of her lips. "I don't know what I expected."

"You should only ever expect one thing from me, Lucy." I replied. "Expect me to always be standing right behind you."

The blonde slumped, her shoulders shaking a bit as she did so, and I raised my voice over the water once again. "YOU'VE GOT MY ANSWER, YOU PASTY HAUNTED-HOUSE REJECT!" I declared, and from a bit behind me, I heard a creaking sound.

A moment later, another voice spoke up.

"AND HERE'S MINE!" Natsu yelled, hoisting a burning length of wood that had probably been made for him a few moments earlier, if the hole in the ground beside him indicating Wood-Make at work was anything to go by. **"FIRE DRAGON'S JAVELIN!"**

He threw the weapon a moment later, and a targeted Gravity Corridor sent it blurring across the distance between the shore and Phantom Lord, where it burrowed through the wall...

And, a few moments later, exploded - sending crimson flames coursing out of the windows near its point of impact.

"AND MINE!" Came a third yell, as Gray drew back a bow made entirely of ice, white light gathered in his hands reaching a blinding intensity. **"** **Ice-Make: Freezing Arrow!"**

The projectile shot away, crossing the hundred metres with ease and freezing a chunk of the building solid, causing it to fall away into the water with a _crash_ as the added weight dragged it away from its surroundings.

And with that, the floodgates opened.

Cana flung a spread of cards which crossed the divide in a blur of colour, burying itself in the wall before exploding. Alzack and Bisca both opened fire with explosive rounds, tearing great chunks from the stone. Erza requipped what I recognised as the spear with the strange name from the armour she would have used on Galuna Island if I hadn't been there, then launched it like a cruise missile - a comparison which held truer seconds later, when flames burst at diagonals from just behind the spear head, boosting the weapon's speed beyond even what Erza could achieve.

It sailed perfectly through the air before coming crashing down onto her target - a large window, near the top and centre of the building, which seemed perfectly suited for a megalomaniacal villain with a superiority complex to look down on the world from.

Judging by the massive rust of dush and detritus that came hurtling back out from what had once been the window frame, it wasn't just the spear's speed that rivalled military-grade projectiles.

The magical attacks came thick and fast, and when everyone had finally launched at least one attack (Wakaba and Macao had even filled a cannonball-sized Lacrima to bursting with their magic and then passed it to Elfman, who threw it at Phantom Lord and blew a hole straight through the building in a mix of released pressure from the smoke and sheer force from the expanding Purple Flare), Master Makarov burst into golden light, a new sun rising at his back with his voice.

"WE ARE FAIRY TAIL!" He shouted, his voice undoubtedly audible even without whatever Jose was using to hear us from where he stood. "THIS GUILD IS FAMILY, AND IF YOU WANT TO TAKE ONE OF OUR OWN _YOU'LL DO IT OVER OUR COLD DEAD BODIES!"_

A roar, a sheer wall of sound that rose from every Fairy Tail Mage in confirmation, swept out onto the water to the wrecked Phantom Lord Guild Hall.

We'd made our point.

Beneath my hand, Lucy's shoulder jerked up and down as light glinted on her cheeks, and I tightened my grip for a moment.

"Forget whatever anyone else thinks." I told her quietly. "You're home now, Lucy of Fairy Tail - and home is where you'll always be."

The shaking of her shoulders spiked for a moment, and I realised that Lucy had begun to laugh through her tears. "You're being really cheesy today, you know that Declan?" She laughed a bit more loudly, her head rising up and revealing a beaming smile beneath the tear tracks. "Everything you say sounds like you pulled it out of a children's story."

I blinked a couple of times, then laughed as well. "You mean, like a fairy tale?"

Lucy reached up, wiping the tears away from her eyes as she laughed loud enough to be heard by everyone around us - and looking around, I could see the sound putting a grin on every face.

Murderous grins, sure - after all, everyone was just _waiting_ to get their hands on Phantom again at this point - but smiles nonetheless.

 _'We're facing an enemy who wants us dead, yet there's a smile on all their lips...'_

Idly, I reached up - and found that my own mouth had pulled itself into a smile without noticing. _'Huh - to think, this power can affect even me without my realising...'_

Taking a deep, if shaky, breath, Lucy's laughter fell into chuckles. "I can't tell if that's really fitting or a really bad pun."

I squeezed her shoulder one more time before releasing it, taking a half-step back to stand at her shoulder. "Why can't it be both?"

Shaking her head once more, Lucy faced forward - and this time, she did it standing tall.

"I WON'T GO BACK!" She shouted, her voice steady and with no hesitation in her at all. "MY TEAM...FAIRY TAIL...EVERYONE HERE! THEY'VE ACCEPTED ME LIKE HE NEVER DID! _FAIRY TAIL IS MY FAMILY - AND I WON'T LET YOU HURT THEM!"_

"Way to go, Lucy!" Natsu laughed from a little ways from us, shooting a thumbs-up and a sharp-toothed grin.

"Way to tell 'em." Gray agreed, hands in his pockets.

Erza smiled approvingly. "Well said!"

In the following few moments, there was no reply from Jose. Then, after I'd almost begun to wonder if Erza hadn't already spitted him on her javelin, his voice thundered out again.

 **"WELL THEN, IF THAT'S YOUR DECISION..."**

A clanking sound, like chains and heavy machinery, started up - and I probably lost what blood remained in my face as, above the massive double-doors on the front of Phantom's castle, a softly triangular section of the wall fell forward, held up by chains, and disgorged a long barrel.

Part of me wondered, _'Did this chapter of Fairy Tail come out before or after Final Fantasy VII?'_

The rest of my processing power was dedicated to, _'Oh,_ fuck. _'_

 **"OVER YOUR COLD DEAD BODIES BE IT!"  
**

Magical energy, tinted an abyssal black that leeched the other colours from the very air around it, began to gather at the front of the barrel. It swirled together into a massive, barely-cohesive sphere, patterns and hints of colour appearing for an instant before vanishing, the sheer magnitude of the energy presented giving me the equivalent of a magical headache just by its existence.

I'd had a couple of ideas about what I could do to avert Jupiter - but all of them involved destroying its firing mechanisms before it could actually be launched. Sure, I had ideas about how I could deal with it otherwise, but I couldn't achieve any of them yet - I didn't have the power, or the kind of practice I would need, to deflect, block or absorb anything like that.

So it was a good thing for me, that both Erza and Master Makarov were stepping forward, the former in a suit of armour that boasted heavy metal plates, spiked pauldrons, and enough metal that her feet were sinking into the cobblestones with each step she took, leaving cracks where she walked.

The latter's eyes were glowing a pure golden yellow, and he let out a deep breath as Erza set herself just behind him, her arms thrust in front of her and extending beyond where Makarov stood.

"Gramps! Erza!"

Natsu tried to run forward, but Gray grabbed him and dragged him behind an icy wall just as I was hustling Lucy back behind a waist-high palisade where Max and Alzack were crouching, grimacing as I had to use my gravity manipulation to lie down prone instead of sitting, since I couldn't bend my middle.

 **"MAGICAL CONVERGENCE CANNON, JUPITER!"** Jose declared, the deadly magical power I was sensing reaching a crescendo as he spoke. **" _FIRE!"_**

The sphere of magical energy seemed to pull into itself all at once - condensing into a solid, light-drinking form before, as if someone had stuck a pin in a balloon, the side facing us _burst_ , and the Jupiter roared towards us in the form of a solid beam of energy.

Erza brought her arms back, rearing backwards slightly as she prepared to strike forwards...

And Makarov let out his breath, simultaneously bending his arms, hands and fingers through a complex series of movements that ended with him leaning forward and crossing his arms in front of his head, the golden light around him reaching a brightness which was just as potent as the darkness of the Jupiter.

 **"Maximum Defence Seal!"** He declared, seconds before the impact of the Jupiter. **"Three Pillar Gods!"**

In the moments before the Jupiter Cannon impacted, several things happened in very quick succession.

The first, was that Natsu yelled out for his grandfather and Erza, stopped from running to join him only by Gray's intervention.

The second, was that Erza shifted her centre of gravity forward, bringing as much of the weight of her armour along with her as possible in the same instant she struck forward with both palms, bringing her armoured hands forward to meet the beam of energy.

The third, was that from the points of a triangle with one point behind him and with the other two to his front-left and front-right, Makarov summoned three stone pillars that reached almost the full height of the Fairy Tail Guild Hall. Those pillars then became swarmed with golden light, taking on an eldritch appearance as Makarov's Magic engraved the very stone with complex characters and powered them.

Then the Jupiter rammed home, and for a second, Erza alone held it.

Her voice was almost lost in the howling malestrom of wind produced by the chaotic energy she was holding at arm's length, but the low scream she was letting out as she glared into the onrushing magical energy was the single most determined sound I had ever heard.

Then another second passed, and Erza wasn't holding it alone any more.

Three figures, each thrice the size of even Elfman, each not so much solid as they were suggested by the lines and curves of the golden energy which composed them, stepped forward - each from one of the stone pillars, whose light faded, the characters growing dimmer as the figures grew brighter.

The first figure was wide, its form suggesting inhuman muscles beneath the near-solid sheets of light which passed for armour. It strode forward, cratering the earth beneath its feet despite being at least two-thirds empty space, and raised its arms to join Erza, setting itself forward and digging its feet in.

The second figure was taller than the others - less bulky than the first, it was more lithe, possessed of less armour than the warrior that preceded it, but still left footprints in the earth as it came forward to join Erza and the first of Makarov's conjurations.

The last appeared from the pillar behind the duo. Where the others were, despite being assemblies of lines, curves and sheets rather than solid figures, still recognisable as warrior-figures with their musculature and armour, the last was shorter, thinner - or so it seemed, as their entire being seemed to consist of a head and a cloak.

While the shimmering curves of its head were there, everything below that point was a shimmering waterfall of light, moving back and forth seemingly without rhyme or reason. Just looking at it threatened to give me a headache...

But that wasn't much of a problem - its cloak was less interesting than what it was _doing_.

Glowing motes of light rose from the earth, gathered from the air, seemed to emerge from the cloak itself - all of it gathered in a pulsating sphere before the cloaked figure, before an arm emerged from the glowing waterfall.

A moment later, the sphere ruptured much as the Jupiter had done and careened forward in a flood of magical power that, when it was combined with everything else going on at that one point where Erza was holding back the Jupiter, my magical sense threw up its hands and keeled over until it could get over effectively being flash-banged right in front of an open-air concert's speaker banks.

The third giant's attack was what tipped the balance - the Jupiter, which had found itself unable to continue forward with the combined efforts of Erza and the first two giants holding it back, was met with the oncoming strike and fell back.

The howl of the wind rose to a whole new crescendo, and I found myself having to increase my weight with my Magic to make sure I didn't blow away in the veritable hurricane being produced. Glancing sideways, I found that Lucy, Max and Alzack were digging their fingers into the earth to accomplish the same thing, all of them squinting against the wind to see what was going on.

I didn't blame them - never in my life did I think I would get to see something like this.

I turned back to the battle, even as I layered an increase in gravity over the area around me and around the cover that had been set up, keeping Fairy Tail grounded when they accepted the extra weight of the Magic.

And I simply _watched._

This was what it meant to be an S-Class Mage.

This was what it meant to be a Guild Master.

This was what it meant to be a Wizard Saint.

This...was what it meant to be a member of Fairy Tail.

Then, with a roar that eclipsed even the wind, Erza set her shoulders and flipped her hands, her knees bending while the figures on either side of her mimicked her -

And then, as one, they threw their hands to the sky - _taking the blast of Jupiter with them._

The flood of tainted magical energy passed over our heads, blotting out the light for a moment as it flew, buffeting us even more with the wind for a few seconds...

Before it passed, and for several long moments, there was silence.

Then I, and at least half of Fairy Tail, uttered the same words with one voice.

"Holy _shit."_

* * *

 _Third Person POV_

Erza slumped forward a bit, taking a few heavy steps backward before truly bending over and putting her hands on her knees, taking deep breaths - only to immediately pull her hands back with a hiss, looking down at them.

The metal which had covered her flesh was scored, pitted, twisted and had even seemed to rust. The leather beneath the metal showed through in places, and she thought she could even see her skin in one or two places.

An application of will caused the gauntlets to vanish in a flash of light, revealing her hands.

The skin of her fingers and palms was ruby-red, with faint steam curling away from them. As she moved them, everything up to her wrist protested the movement, even the friction of skin-on-skin burning.

Frowning to herself, she put the feeling to the back of her mind with the ease of long practice and an inhuman will, looking to her Master.

Makarov was standing straight once more, looking out over the water to Phantom Lord with a face that might have been carved from stone. "That attack..." He growled, "could have wiped out Magnolia if it struck true."

He moved forward a step, raising his voice to a shout. "ISN'T IT ENOUGH TO PURSUE THIS RIDICULOUS CONFLICT WITH US, JOSE?!" He demanded, the water in front of him rippling away from his volume and his Magic. "TO SPILL MY CHILDREN'S BLOOD FOR YOUR DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR IS AN UNFORGIVABLE SIN - BUT THERE ARE NO WORDS FOR A TRAVESTY LIKE THIS!"

 **"A TRAVESTY?!"** The voice over the water replied, anger in every syllable. **"A TRAVESTY IS PHANTOM LORD'S SUPERIORITY BEING OVERLOOKED FOR YOUR REFUSE HEAP OF A GUILD! A TRAVESTY IS MY PLACEMENT AS THE LOWEST OF THE TEN WIZARD SAINTS! A TRAVESTY IS YOUR BLATANT ATTEMPTS TO UPSTAGE MY GUILD BY RECRUITING THE HEARTFILIA HEIRESS!**

 **"THE TRASH IN THAT CITY SHOULD BE PROUD THAT THEY CAN SERVE PHANTOM LORD! AFTER ALL, YOU MAY HAVE DEFLECTED THE JUPITER ONCE - BUT CAN YOU DO IT AGAIN AFTER IT RECHARGES IN FIFTEEN MINUTES?!"**

Cries of disbelief and angry yelling rose up among the members of Fairy Tail, while Lucy's fingers, removed from the earth after she had felt Declan's Magic settle around her and keep her from blowing away, clenched into fists.

Beside her, Declan grimaced, then began to rise up, rotating until he was standing upright again.

Jose's sickening laugh sounded out once more. **"IT'S YOUR CHOICE, MAKAROV - YOU CAN EITHER TRY FOR A REPEAT PERFORMANCE, OR YOU CAN STAND ASIDE...AND LET ALL OF MAGNOLIA TURN TO ASH!"**

The laughter continued...but broke off when a dark cackle emanated from the older Guild Master.

"You forgot option three, Jose!" He declared, while beside him the thinner warrior figure raised its left arm - and, with a flash of light, manifested the unmistakable form of a longbow.

"If we beat you in the next fifteen minutes and destroy that monstrosity of yours..." Makarov continued, a shadowed smirk spreading across his face, just as terrifying as it had been when Kageyama laid eyes on it in Clover. "Then there's no problem at all!"

Natsu was the first one to break out into a shark-like grin - but the rest of the Guild swiftly followed suit, Magic of all kinds powering up. On the one hand, in fifteen minutes, Phantom Lord would fire that incredibly powerful attack again.

On the other hand, Phantom Lord _couldn't use that attack again for fifteen minutes._

The sound of Jose's teeth clicking sounded over the water. **"DON'T GET AHEAD OF YOURSELVES YOU DAMN FAIRIES!"** He declared, just before Bisca, who possessed the Guild's sharpest eyes, spoke up.

"There's something coming out of the Guild Hall!" She yelled, squinting for a moment before Requipping a long rifle with an attached scope and sighting down it. "It's people!" She called, tracking one of the figures in her crosshairs. "All in cloaks and hoods, they have swords and other weapons!"

Approaching across the water, rapidly drawing close enough for all the Guild to see, the figures were all creepily identical.

A dark tunic was worn and covered everything but the hands, feet and head. The head was covered by a pitch-black hood which seemed to shadow the face, leaving glowing purple eyes the only feature visible. The hood spilled down into a cape along their backs, which was the same pitch-black as the exposed boots and gloves they wore.

 **"IF JUPITER DOESN'T KILL YOU, THEN MY SOLDIERS WILL!"**

"Oi..." Max Alors spoke up, grimacing as he looked over the water to where what looked like a solid black tide of figures was approaching. "Is he seriously going to fire the cannon even after sending his men after us?!"

"He would." Cana replied, cards appearing in her hands as she shuffled her deck. "Jose's Magic is called 'Shade' - he can use it to make lifeless puppet soldiers. He wouldn't have a single problem with firing Jupiter at us while we're swarmed."

"Cana's right." Makarov nodded. "We must deal with both threats at once if we are to succeed."

He looked behind him, considering for a few seconds. "Natsu! Gray! Elfman!"

The three teens he had called all moved forward quickly, Happy on Natsu's shoulder.

"You three are going into that building." Makarov declared. "Find the source of Jupiter and destroy it. Avoid Jose, and be careful of the remaining Element Four."

Turning his gaze on Natsu in particular, he could see the question in the teen's eyes without it even being said. "If you run into Gajeel, Natsu..."

The feral, terrifying smile split Makarov's face like a crescent moon. "Cut loose."

Natsu laughed madly, nodding. "You got it, gramps!"

Turning to the water, he began running forward. "Happy!"

"Aye, sir!"

A moment later, the cat had Natsu gripped beneath the arms and took off into the sky, bearing his cargo toward the Jupiter's barrel.

Gray and Elfman considered the water before them for a moment, before the Ice-Make Mage stepped forward and clapped his hands together, submerging his hands in the water. **"Ice-Make: Boat!"**

An icy rowboat rose from the water in seconds, complete with oars, and the two Mages quickly boarded it before they began to paddle out into the water - gaining speed at a ridiculous pace, until they were skipping over the water as they rapidly closed the gap between them and the currently-grounded Phantom Lord.

Makarov nodded to himself as they went. "That just leaves the Shades."

"Non, non, non, non, non, non, non, non, non, non, non, non, non,

" _Bonjour!"_

Makarov shot a look over his shoulder, while the Mages in close proximity to the point where the voice was coming from all leapt backward as the earth began to rise, reforming itself as the figure of Sol from the Element Four.

"With non, in a 3-3-7 rhythm!"

"You're with Phantom." Makarov said shortly, glaring at the foppish man who seemed to be rooted in the earth, his torso at ninety degrees to his legs - or almost, in any case.

"Oui, I am!" Sol declared.

"So, you decided to just pop up right here? In the middle of all of us?" Macao asked, Purple Flare burning on his hands as he stepped forward. "You ran when it was you and another against just me and Wakaba - what chance do you think you stand now?"

"Ah, just one of me stands very little chance at all!" Sol agreed, the smile he boasted behind his monacle turning distinctly unpleasant. "But of course, this would not be a true _rendezvous_ if it were just I!"

"That is why I also brought _me_ _!"_

Macao spun in place rapidly, finding himself facing _another_ Sol - in the exact same pose as the first, with the exact same unpleasant smile.

"And _myself!"_

It was Wakaba who turned this time, finding a third copy of the Element Four's Earth member standing just behind him.

"Indeed..." The first Sol continued, snapping his hand out to the side with a sound like a whip-crack. "It is moi, moi, moi, moi, moi, moi, moi, moi, moi, moi, moi, moi, moi!"

With each repetition of the word, a new copy of Sol sprouted from the earth - and they kept doing so after he stopped, until the Fairy Tail Mages found themselves surrounded by the copies.

"Moi, in a 3-3-7 rhythm..." Each Sol spoke as one. "With _meurs, s'il vous plaît._ "

And then the Shades arrived, and everything was chaos.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **For the people out there who didn't take French - 'Die, if you please.'**

 **Sorry it's taken a while to get this out - but in the time since I posted the last chapter, I took my exams and _graduated highschool! FREEEEEDOOOOOOOOM!_**

 **I've been a little bit high on the power, so I hope you can forgive me - I didn't really pull myself together enough to write until kallin22 (bless their soul of indeterminate gender) PM'd me to ask if I wanted help with the plot of how these next few chapters are going to go.  
**

 **Predictably enough, despite having several thousand words of planning beside me as I wrote this chapter, it turned out little to nothing like how we had sketched out.**

 **So, yes, I took quite a bit of liberty with Makarov's 'Three Pillar Gods' technique. But in my defence, all we saw of it was three pillars in the anime and some funky-looking drawings in the manga. That's not much to go off of - so I decided to take the name literally.**

 **You would not _believe_ how tempting it was to make them the Pillar Men...but I decided to take a bit more inspiration from the Guardian Stones in Skyrim, instead, since Fairy Tail is more than Bizarre enough.**

 **As for what Sol pulled at the end - if he can _turn his own body into earth and move through the ground then re-assemble himself on the other end,_ and with his established ability to flawlessly reproduce people he can't ever have seen in anything but pictures (aka Lisanna), I don't think this is much of a stretch.**

 **So, what did you think of the chapter? I thought I'd get much further into the actual fight than this, but I forgot (even if my muse didn't) that Fairy Tail battles consist of 25% combat, 50% talking, 12.5% 'WHAT DOES THE SCOUTER SAY ABOUT HIS POWER LEVEL?!', 6.25% bullshit secret techniques, and an extra 6.25% which can only be reasonably called the 'Rube Goldberg Principle of Combat'.**

 **Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this - the battle will continue next chapter, and might take up the chapter after that, too - we'll see how the writing goes.**

 **Now, Reviews:**

 **-eve eversoul, Blackbeard's Yami-Yami no Mi was...kinda esoteric. I mean, it wasn't Shadow, or Gravity, it was just...Darkness. So, I guess he kinda embodied the Shadow Realm? But no, Declan's abilities really aren't anything like what he could do - well, except the ability to reduce something to a state so close to nothingness it might as well not exist.**

 **-Ionix Architect, Well, I'm considering doing omakes at some point - either starting a new story archive for them or just adding them to pre-existing chapters or new ones coming out. This chapter will have one added once it's been written by the guy who PM'd me about it, PSIness11, who's done omakes for This Bites! in the past. You might get to see that idea sooner than you think :P**

 **-'Named', Nope, wrong fundamental force - though an interestingly close guess from a scientific standpoint.**

 **-'Itachi', Thanks man - always glad of the support!**

 **-'just a fan', Thanks to you too - glad you're enjoying it. I agree with you - making an OC or SI a Dragon Slayer (or a Devil Slayer, or a God Slayer, or a 'vaguely-defined-mythological-being-slayer'...) is a really common idea in this fandom. Ah well, what can be said? The Dragon Slayers in Fairy Tail are pretty goddamn badass - can you really blame people? (Though that doesn't necessarily make the stories any good .)**

 **-'the guy', Your wish is my command!**

 **-'hadoukendave', I'm really flattered for the compliment, but in my opinion, the best SI fic ever is still a title being fought for by This Bites! and Dreaming of Sunshine - though, the other two members of the Cross Brain (The Patient One and CV12Hornet) are meant to be coming out with some SI fics of their own at some point, Yu-Gi-Oh! and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure respectively, so maybe there'll be some new contestants soon enough. Still though, thanks for the high opinion, I'll try to earn it.**

 **-'bobert', It's true that admitting to only having possessed Magic for six months could cause some pointed questions in the future - but Declan was a writer once upon a time, and he still likes to tell a story. I've made slip-ups while I've been telling stories before, thankfully never anything that was worse than just a bit embarassing, but for me (and Declan) we tend to just let our mouths run when we're telling stories, not even properly considering what exactly we say.**

 **'Till next time!**


	16. XV - Melting Point

_Natsu's POV_

 **"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"  
**

A flaming punch that could have reduced a medium-sized house to a pile of rubble and charred furniture smashed into the surface of the Jupiter Cannon's barrel, leaving not even a crack or scorch mark to show that it had done anything.

"Dammit!" Natsu growled, glaring at the stone as the flames around his hands fizzled out. "Nothing works on this thing! What the hell's it made out of anyway?!"

Happy, who had made precisely one attempt to damage the cannon by unsheathing his claws and slashing it before he had jarred his paw and blunted his claws, shrugged. "I dunno - but if we can't break it, it'll fire again!"

The cat paused, then perked up. "Hey, Natsu - maybe we can break it from inside!"

The Dragon Slayer blinked, looking up from his glaring contest with the cannon, before grinning. "Great idea, Happy!"

Scurrying to the end of the barrel, Natsu swung himself inside in pursuit of Happy, who could simply fly in without worrying about falling off Phantom's base, and began crawling as fast as possible through the cramped space, toward the light at the other end.

When he emerged, he blinked a few times to clear his eyes while he looked around.

The room was full of machinery. Dominated in the centre by a massive dark sphere that smelled like a Lacrima, the edges of the room were lined with pipes, gears and boxy shapes, all metal, most of them moving, and several feeding into massive bundles of cables that fed into the Lacrima. The entire place reeked of Magic - and not just Hose-guy's; to his nose, the Magic seemed to be coming from loads of different people before it ended up mixing in the Lacrima.

Putting that aside as something to think about later, he scratched his head, wondering just what the hell he was meant to do.

"That must be the Lacrima which gathers energy for the Jupiter!" Happy declared, pointing to the massive black sphere.

 _'And suddenly, things are simple again.'_

"Gotcha, Happy - so I just need to smash that thing and they can't fire it again, right?"

Shuffling forward quickly, Natsu vaulted out of the tunnel which was Jupiter's barrel, his fists lighting up as he went, and was preparing to start pounding the Lacrima until it shattered when a voice interrupted him.

"I won't let you do that."

Spinning around quickly, Natsu focused on a figure near the other side of the room. "A guard?!"

Beginning his charge in the direction of the figure, the Dragon Slayer clicked his teeth. "Who cares - I'm not gonna let anyone get in my way..."

His fist cocked back, Natsu leapt into the air, coming down towards his target like an arrow from a bow. "SO GET LOST!"

Then, as he brought his fist forward, it curved sharply - and smacked the Dragon Slayer right across the face, hard enough to send him flying off course and tumble into one of the banks of machinery.

Rolling back onto his feet, Natsu glared at the figure he'd been attacking, while at the same time holding his distance. "My body...moved on its own..."

Stepping forward into the light, the figure resolved itself into a young man with his hair done up in a top-knot. His hair was separated into two distinct halves - one black and one white, while a black line split his face across the bridge of the nose and along each cheekbone.

He was dressed in a red gi with thick fishnet-mesh sides, with a thinner fishnet covering his forearms like sleeves. A mane-like ruff of red feathers had been wrapped from his shoulders around the back of his neck, while a black belt held his gi closed. He wore black trousers and boots, and there was a dark-blue sheath at his side, capped with gold and with an eastern-style hilt wrapped in dark blue fabric protruding from it.

"As the one getting in _our_ way..." He drawled, "I, Totomaru of Phantom Lord's Element Four, will-"

What Totomaru was going to do, however, would forever remain unknown - because it was at that moment that the room's ceiling exploded downward, breaking apart the room's machinery in a heavy shower of stone and metal, before a metal-clad figure crashed down through the empty space and shattered the giant Lacrima at the centre of the room like glass when they burst through it, extending a fist and meeting the crossed forearms of Natsu Dragneel in a shockwave that blew Totomaru's hair back from his gaping face.

 _"I told you we'd finish this, you trash!"_ Gajeel Redfox, in full Iron Dragon's Scales regalia, roared in his opponent's face - getting a roar right back.

 _"You won't run away from me this time, bolts-for-brains!"_

As the two Dragon Slayers began to exchange blows, further reducing Phantom Lord's main weapon to scrap metal, Happy and Totomaru just stared. The Fire Mage was working his jaw, trying to speak, when the flying cat turned to him and shrugged. "I guess Dragons of a feather really do flock together."

The mangling of a common phrase seemed to jar the Element Four member from his stupor, and he reared back, a flaming aura erupting from around him as he drew his sword and rushed forward, his eyes light with sparks of light and a rainbow of burning gases spiralling in his wake as his sword's edge took on a glow like the sun, a razor-thin area of air superheated to plasma which could cut even a Dragon Slayer's iron.

"You moron, Gajeel, you broke the Jupiter! Let's just kill this trash so we can go to Jose-!"

All of Totomaru's momentum and words came to an abrupt halt when he came within arm's reach of the brawl, as he was suddenly introduced to what it felt like to be punched in the face simultaneously by two Dragon Slayers.

 _""STAY THE HELL OUT OF OUR FIGHT, DUMB-ASS!""_

* * *

 _Elfman's POV_

"I AM ELFMAN!" The white-haired teen declared, punching forward with an arm that bulged with pitch-black muscle, larger even than the rest of him, sending a mixed group of shades and Phantom Lord Mages flying along the corridor, breaking the walls, floor, ceiling and each other as they ricocheted down its length. "AND I WILL DEFEND FAIRY TAIL WITH MY LIFE!"

The small army of cannon-fodder who had moved to engage the biggest of the intruders in their base glanced at each other and gulped as Elfman loosed another punch, the pressure wave reaching them several seconds after the shades it had been targeting left for greener pastures and a bluer sky somewhere in the vicinity of either Alvarez or the moon - whichever came second.

"What the hell _is_ that guy?!" One of them asked, bringing up a rifle and taking potshots at the Fairy Tail Mage only for each of the Magical Energy Bullets to splash harmlessly off the teen's monstrous right arm.

"Beast Arm Elfman!" One of the others replied as he formed a fireball and tossed it forward, having much the same impact as the first speaker. "He's a Take-Over Mage who only ever changes his right arm!"

" _Seriously?!_ " Someone managed to yell, between ducking under a high-velocity shade that had just screamed through the space he used to occupy and throwing a knife at Elfman. "We're getting the shit kicked out of us by a failure of a Take-Over Mage from a failure of a guild?!"

A second later, that someone found himself looking up - and up, and _up_ \- at the massive form of Elfman Strauss, his right arm cocked back. "I may be a failure of a Take-Over Mage..." The teen growled, "But I will not allow you to say such a thing about my Guild!"

The Phantom Lord Mage gulped.

Approximately three seconds later, the ensuing pressure wave from Elfman's punch blew out every window in the corridor and collapsed the ceiling.

* * *

 _Gray's POV_

Running down a corridor, casting his eyes about constantly, Gray muttered under his breath.

"Dammit...Elfman went up and Natsu went straight in, so I have to take the bottom floors..."

Taking an abrupt right turn for no other reason than that he'd been running straight for too damn long, Gray's voice rose into a yell. "BUT DAMMIT, THERE'S NO ONE HEEE _EEEERE-!"_

His yell trailed off into a panicked shout when his leading foot suddenly went out from under him, leaving Gray flip over onto his back and continue sliding for several metres before he hit a wall and came to a stop.

Grunting as he picked himself up, the Ice-Make Mage narrowed his eyes as he looked back along the corridor he had been running along, seeing now what he'd missed the first time he ran through.

The floor was covered in water.

"Drip drop, drip drop..."

A feminine voice drifted along the corridor as ripples spread across the water - then, it all began to move. As if Declan was mucking about with the corridor's gravity, the water all flowed to a single point like there was a slope, rising as it gathered and took on a female figure.

A woman in blue, from her hair to her hat to her coat, and with a pink umbrella over her head even indoors, formed from the water. "Juvia, the Rain Woman of the Element Four, is here to clean Phantom Lord of intruders..."

Gray's eyes narrowed further. "So, you're one of the Element Four."

Juvia nodded in acknowledgement. "Juvia was shocked that Fairy Tail was able to take out Aria...but that does not mean you should underestimate any of the Element Four."

"Hmph."

Straightening up, Gray glared across the distance separating him from the rain woman, settling into a casting stance. "Sorry, but...even if you're a woman, and even if you were a child..."

Ice crystals began to form on the walls and on Gray's skin, a glint of frost giving his dark hair a white tint as it began to rustle with a sound like a wind chime. _"I'll never go easy on anyone who tries to hurt my nakama."_

* * *

 _Juvia Vision™_

 _The dark-haired Mage looked straight through her - like she was as transparent as the water which composed her body, and could see all the way through to the core of what she was.  
_

 _He was tall; tall, and well-built, and..._

 _There was a pulse in her chest, like something bubbling up from inside her, and it only grew more and more as he spoke. "My apologies, miss...but no matter how beautiful your youthful appearance may be, I cannot set aside my morals. I must protect my friends, even from one such as yourself!"_

 _With that declaration, she could the water around him begin to shift. From being under her control, under her purview, it abruptly pulled away - it_ clung _to the man, embracing him, holding as close as it could and painting him in a glow of refracted light that lit him like a star._

 _The bubbly feeling reached new heights._

 _Such courage...such devotion...such dedicated self-sacrifice!_

 _It was like a beautiful tableu...she could never damage such a thing! Yet, the bubbling in her chest called for her to envelop it, to make it a part of her, to become a part of_ it _, to...to..._

 _She wasn't even sure. She was so confused, she...she couldn't think. She had to go - yes, go, concede the battle and take some time to think, Master Jose would surely be busy for a while and Gajeel was keeping to himself lately, so maybe..._

* * *

 _Gray's POV_

Gray watched, tense as he waited for the Element Four Mage to make her first move - she said she was a rain woman and she was made of water, apparently, so his Ice-Make Magic should counter her fairly well, but it didn't pay to get cocky -

Juvia's face suddenly turned pink, and she abruptly spun around and started to walk away. "Juvia has already lost this fight...farewell, Juvia needs to go for a walk..."

Gray's jaw dropped as he fell out of his casting stance, catching himself in time to stare disbelievingly at the woman's retreating back. "Wa...wait, what the Hell?! What do you mean you lost?!"

When she said nothing, Gray growled, running forward and extending one arm. "Dammit, get back here - I'm not finished with you!"

 _'She's one of the Element Four, so she's gotta know where the Jupiter's power source is;_

* * *

 _Juvia Vision™_

 _"Miss, don't give up yet! The battle has yet to begin, you must have more faith in yourself!"  
_

 _She brought one hand up to her chest, covering her heart as if to try and hold the source of the bubbles filling her brain._

 _"Miss, come back! Our time together cannot end yet!"_

 _She made a decision._ 'He must be mine!'

 _The bubbling exploded..._

 _And so did the corridor._

* * *

 _Gray's POV_

One moment, he was running forward, reaching for the woman's shoulder.

The next, she had spun around like a top, and her form suddenly exploded forward and enveloped him like a river, sending him crashing out the window at the end of the hall and into open air outside.

 _'Wait, it's raining - was it raining before?'_

Gray wasn't sure, but as the water around him started to bend inwards, joining the flow that was rapidly forming a sphere to contain him, he decided he had more important things to worry about.

 _ **'Ice-Make...!'**_

White light exploded in an aura around him, all the heat draining from the water in an instant and leaving one massive crystalline sphere -

 ** _'Shatter-Shell!'_**

A sphere which exploded outward with a physical push and a mental command, leaving Gray to flash-freeze an ice-pick and dig it into the wall in front of him, leaving him hanging by one hand until he formed an identical tool in his off hand and began climbing back toward the window he'd fallen from.

He scaled the wall in seconds before flipping forward into the window, landing in a three-point crouch and looking up from beneath his now-sopping fringe to level his glare on his opponent. "So, you wanna play rough - is that it?"

A movement that was just as deeply ingrained in his subconscious as breathing took hold, and the Ice-Make Mage removed his shirt, casting it aside and cracking his knuckles before doing the same for his neck. "Then let's play."

* * *

 _Juvia Vision™_

 _She froze as the window shattered. What had she done?! She wanted to keep him, so she went for **Water Lock** \- but she had sent for the rain for more water, and had thrown him out the window!_

 _Her heart skipped a beat and she almost dropped her parasol as she went to run forward - but then, she felt her control over the water which held the man_ shatter -

 _Followed by the spell itself._

 _She fell still in an instant, taking a deep breath and feeling her eyes widen as chunks of ice flew past the window._

 _Her **Water Lock** \- a technique that no one had ever escaped...he had taken it from her in an instant, taking control effortlessly and then shattering it. Even now she could feel the rain as it fell on him, the man pulling himself up the side of the building as if nothing had happened before he re-entered through the window._

 _He was covered by the water - by the rain, by_ her _\- it had soaked into his shirt and trousers, leaving them clinging to him like a second skin, while his dark hair now glistened in the light where it clung to him, holding close. Rivulets ran from his fringe down across his face, but he didn't blink them away. As if he were still perfectly dry, the man's eyes locked on her and didn't turn away, piercing her once more, just as he had done the first time._

 _Such focus - a complete inability to be distracted...from_ her!

 _Was this...fate?_

 _"So, this is the kind of fun you want to have?"_

 _In a motion that seemed, to her at least, to last an eternal moment, the man reached for his lapel and drew it aside with a flurry of water-laden cloth - revealing, inch-by-inch, rock-solid muscles and skin bearing the slight silvery tells of old scars._

 _Most of her mind locked up at the sight, memory and perception working overtime to commit everything before her to memory, as the bubbling feeling that had grown to control her so completely reached a whole new gear._

 _"In that case, let us..._ have fun, _shall we?"_

* * *

 _Gray's POV_

 _'Alright - how do I do this?'_ Gray asked himself, falling into a casting stance. _'She's made up of water...that might mean I can freeze her, but would that kill her? She doesn't seem the kind of person I'd want to kill..._ _'_

Gritting his teeth, the Ice-Make Mage decided that he might as well try a few things. **"Ice-Make: Arrows!"**

A near-solid wall of icy projectiles erupted from the magic circle in front of his hands, and Gray followed in their wake, bringing his hands together once more as he ran. **"Ice-Make: Sword!"**

The wave of icy pain in front of him passed Juvia's position, Gray hot on its heels, and he analysed what had been revealed in an instant.

Juvia was still standing, but there were innumerable small slits in her form where she had been struck with the arrows. She didnt' even seem to notice the missing material in her limbs, main body or head, never mind her clothes or parasol. _'So everything she's carrying is made from water, too? Or does she turn them into water_ because _she's carrying them?'_

Gray wasn't sure which, but as he brought his sword down on her left shoulder to cut through her right hip, using the same swing he had learned from Erza to cut deep enough to incapacitate but not enough to kill a Mage, especially not as close to a hospital as this battle was.

It carved a trench through the water - and it was _weird,_ seeing cloth and skin break but finding nothing below but transparent, suspended water, but weird bodies were kind of common among Mages - but had no other apparent affect. Gray tried bringing the sword back around and stabbing it through her shoulder, but that had just as little effect as any of the initial strikes.

Gritting his teeth, Gray brought his left hand up to join his right on the hilt of the sword, white light gathering and rushing forward. **"Ice-Make: Morningstar!"**

The shape of the icy weapon shifted and mutated, turning from a thin, edged blade to a bulky, spiked orb atop a handle, the sharp protrusions erupting from around where the weapon was buried in the rain woman like she had a demented hedgehog stuck in her shoulder.

Juvia didn't even blink.

"Juvia's body is formed from the rain itself..." She said quietly, bringing her right arm - which shivered and was suddenly _whole_ again - to her lips and turning her head away. "There's no way that you can hurt me..."

Gray grimaced, leaping back and leaving the mace in her shoulder - watching as it was crushed by what had to have been water pressure and the fragments were absorbed into the woman's body, melted by the higher temperature environment that composed her.

 _'Dammit...she really is immune to physical attacks...!'_

Across from him, the woman was still turned away, but was shaking her head slightly, red still dusting her cheeks. She seemed to admonish herself for a moment before turning back, giving Gray a sad look with some resignation mixed in...

Though she was still blushing brightly.

"You can't defeat Juvia..." She told him, her body flowing and re-arranging until she stood until she was once more whole _._ But as she did so, Gray was watching carefully, and saw a faint glimmer on the floor.

 _'...That's it!'_

He shot a look over his shoulder to the window, and saw that rain was being blown into the corridor, pooling beneath the sill - where it was then running in a river toward Juvia. _'She's getting more water from the rain - if she keeps that up, she'll just keep reversing any damage I do to her!'_

"But you can still save yourself and your guild!" The rain woman declared. "Bring me Lucy Heartfilia, and I can convince Master Jose to call off the attack!"

Gray's strategising _stopped._

He brought his eyes up to meet Juvia's, his glare darkening further. "Oi...don't say screwy things like that..."

He punched a fist into his open left hand, small ice crystals forming in the collision and falling to the floor. "This fight won't end so easily - both sides have come too far for this battle to just stop like that! Besides..."

White light suffused his body, mist beginning to curl around his ankles. "Lucy's our Nakama - I'll never let you have her as long as I live!"

Not really noticing how Juvia dropped her parasol, the Ice-Make Mage continued, gathering his magical power even as the rain woman's expression turned strangely blank. "Besides, I was gonna beat Declan into the ground after we got back from Galuna - but then you bastards put him in the hospital! So, I'm gonna deliver that beating twice as hard!"

* * *

 _Juvia Vision™_

 _The man's gaze, already so sharp and penetrating, seemed to gain a whole new edge as met her eyes. "I cannot help but disagree, Miss."_

 _His muscles rippled as he brought his hands together with a clap, as one might if offering a challenge. "There is too much at stake, Miss; our honour will not allow such an unsatisfactory ending to this conflict! And in any case..."_

 _The water around him once more moved away from her control, hovering protectively around him as if to guard his person - a devoted pet, perhaps, totally loyal to its master._

 _"Lucy means far too much for me to simply hand her over - 'till death do us part, I will defend her!"_

 _...what?_

 _No, wait...what?_

 _What...what did he mean by ''till death do us part'? Like...a wedding bond? But he didn't wear a ring, so then, Lucy was a suitor?_

 _...That must be it. A suitor, another person pursuing this glorious man, a...an obstacle, a problem, a...a..._

 _A RIVAL._

 _Barely had this thought solidified and begun to swirl in her mind with the force of a building cyclone than once more the words of the man -_ her _man; he would be, she would make sure of it, she would decimate all in her path! - reached her ears once more._

 _"Further, I had time set aside for physical activity with my friend Declan until he became a casualty of your guild's attack. For him, I will strike back twice as hard!"_

 _There..._

 _There was..._

 _ANOTHER RIVAL? AND A MAN THIS TIME?!_

* * *

The bubbling within Juvia reached a rate of expansion and expulsion usually associated with volcanic eruptions as two very different trains of thought both reached fulfilment.

The first was that she absolutely had to prove that she was a superior suitor to Lucy Heartfilia and win this man's heart.

The second, was... _well._ She'd have to see what he was like first, of course, but it might be possible that she could ensure her man was happy by letting him have a consort on the side...

* * *

And thus, a monster was born as fujoshi the world over turned to face one place on Earthland, while straight men everywhere felt a massive chill run down their spine - and none more so than Gray Fullbuster, Declan Ross and Lyon Vastia.

* * *

 _Gray's POV_

The Ice-Make Mage only had a few seconds to realise the incredible change in the rain woman's demeanour as she first turned a shade of red he'd thought only Lucy and tomatoes could achieve naturally, then started _steaming_ as her yell echoed across Phantom Lord's base and even into Magnolia.

 _"JUVIA SHALL NEVER FORGIVE THOSE WHO STEAL AWAY MEN!"_

Gray blinked. "Wait...wha-"

Then the roof above them exploded as several square miles' worth of rain packed itself into a stream and tore through the tower they were under from the roof down, and a second later Juvia rushed forward in a boiling river and the world was nothing but water.

* * *

 _Declan's POV, Earlier_

The moment a Sol turned to where Lucy and I were standing with Max, I stabbed out with my crutch, the wooden cylinder hitting its chest but not doing anything more. Why would it? It was just a tool for getting around, capable of supporting someone's body weight but not much more.

No, what was important about the motion was the magical power I ran down the object and into the construct's chest cavity, where gravity twisted and bent in opposite circles one layer after another, reducing the torso to sand and dust in seconds.

As whatever was animating the stone doll failed, leaving it to collapse back into rocks, I pulled the sand back along the body of the crutch, focussing on the same exercise I had used on Galuna Island. The material shuddered, then pulled itself into a new shape - a blade, with a point a couple of inches beyond the foot of the crutch and edges that trailed three feet up either side of the cylinder.

I then promptly tossed it towards Max, who glanced over at the incoming weapon before grabbing it out of the air, his own Magic - 'Sandstorm' - taking over control of the construct as he began sheering parts off the Sol in front of him, then blasting the edges to smooth them over and keep them from re-constructing what he cut off.

Alzack was a constant blur of spinning motion. He would take aim for barely a second, pull back the hammer of his revolver and fire, then find a new target within two seconds, re-orienting himself and repeating his actions. He never missed as far as I could see, explosions of magical energy ripping apart stone constructs while bright light shone from within the Shades he targeted, burning them up.

I, on the other hand, wasn't quite so flashy.

Isolating a group of three Shades charging a Mage I didn't recognise, I flicked my left hand, re-orienting their gravity and amplifying it so they all crashed together back-to-back. A second later a red card buried itself in the ground at their feet before exploding, taking all three with it.

A glance over my shoulder revealed a Sol launching a spray of rocks toward where we were standing. All the projectiles abruptly pulled themselves into one spot in mid-air, before with a loud _cracking_ sound, they were crushed down into one particularly dense sphere that went rocketing back toward its originator, blowing the head off the Sol construct.

It immediatly began to re-grow the extremity, but the sphere reversed direction until it was directly above the reforming body and went _down_ , coring the clone and burying itself in the earth below before the defeated copy collapsed into rock.

I was in no fit state to be throwing punches or even just throwing people. My movement was limited to my flight, which would make me an easy target in this bedlam. As such, I slipped into a role I normally didn't take.

I preferred to fight hand-to-hand as a brawler type because of the rush it gave me - and because it was the least lethal option at my disposal.

As I noted a Shade doing a running jump to land on Reedus, I created three points of gravitational attraction in the space around it - one behind its head, one behind its feet and one in front of its belly. The resulting pulls bent the Shade into a U-shape...and then, when I brought the two behind its back closer together, snapped it completely in half.

As it burst apart into purple smoke, I continued to pick my targets - anchoring groups together for easy targeting, completely negating projectile attacks, occasionally choosing a particular target and destroying them utterly.

This was the epitome of what I could be - I could stand perfectly still on a battlefield and still kill, still defend. This was what it meant to be a Mage as _I_ knew the definition.

And as another Sol sprouted directly in front of me, a sharp stone blade rising toward my ribcage, I knew that someone like me couldn't - _shouldn't_ \- be trusted with this kind of power.

Glaring at the forming construct and simply causing a massive increase in the gravity around a pillar reaching from its head to its feet was all it took - the Sol was pulled inward, forming a rocky pillar with no more resemblance to a human than a bo staff, where before it had been an animated killing machine.

And it would be just as easy to do to a human.

A field of rocky spikes rose and began to move like a wave toward our four-man position, and I raised my right arm, ready to pronounce a Shinra Tensei -

Only for a bovine bellow to sound beside me as the towering figure of Taurus charged forward, leaping into the air and coming down labrys-first with a shout. **"Rampage!"**

The incoming spell was parted with ease, becoming no more than flying rock which I snagged with a gravitational field, drawing it together into a constantly-orbiting path above our position.

I glanced sideways as I targeted a Shade, launching a piece of debris from the halo above us with all the speed of a gravity corridor, blowing straight through it and blasting the leg off a Sol behind it.

Lucy was glaring out at the chaos around us as she returned Taurus' key to her belt and grabbed her whip, looking around as she chewed her lip with an angry light in her eyes.

I watched with a raised eyebrow as she chose a target, lashing out with her leather weapon and succeeding in wrapping it around a Shade's wrist. She yanked on it, and the figure was sent hurtling towards us - only to be met with her foot as she kicked it right in its shadowy excuse for a face, reducing it to purple mist as she grabbed the sword from its hand when it was dissolving, looking down on the blade with a grimace.

"I wouldn't recommend trying to learn how to use a sword in this situation." I commented, firing off another three rocks from the ammunition above us, blowing a triangle of holes in a Sol that were immediately filled with Smoke Magic. A second later, it expanded explosively, blowing the clone apart and forming more debris that I pulled into my ammunition belt.

"I used to watch the guards _that bastard_ hired practice when I was younger!" She yelled back, scanning the crowd as Taurus roared forward, seeming to bisect an opponent on every swing, deflecting the Shades' blades or the Sols' rocks with his own labrys.

"Trust me," I declared, "watching someone use a sword and then trying to do it yourself are two _very_ different things!"

I gestured with the fingers of my left hand, negating a Shade's gravity before turning 'down' for it into a point which would always be precisely an inch to the left of its head even as it moved, resulting in it toppling sideways like a felled tree before its body's attempts to keep turning despite being already on the ground resulted in its neck snapping and a rush of purple mist.

I didn't get an answer, and looking sideways I was just in time for Lucy to snap her whip back to her, sending a Shade spinning like a top as it drew closer, before she lunged forward with the blade she'd liberated like it was a rapier, piercing directly through its chest and reducing the puppet soldier to fog.

I blinked, then huffed. "So, I have so little talent with weapons I'm more of a threat to myself than anything else, but you can just pick up a sword and turn into Indiana Jones."

I swept a Shinra Tensei along the ground at the level where Sol clone's body joined the earth, shattering the support there and leaving it to topple forward toward its opponent - a man with long chestnut hair kept tied back in a ponytail, covered from neck to toe by a black one-piece of some kind with solid grey circles on the shoulders and circular outlines around the knees and elbows, with grey lines from the shoulder circles to the elbows and across his torso to meet in the centre, where they ran down his body and met a belt-like loop of grey around his waist and continued down to the circle outlines at the knees.

The man, who I recognised as being the Guild's resident dancer who was always moving in some way, shape or form, grabbed the falling Sol by the shoulders and flipped over in a display of near-elastic flexibility, standing on the falling figure's back and bursting into a several-second dance routine that reminded somewhat of a cossack dance.

By the time he was done, there was nothing left of the clone but a pile of rubble, and the dancer returned to dancing through the fray with a nod in my direction.

"I don't know who that is..." Lucy groaned, pulling back hard on her whip after wrapping it around a Sol's shoulder to keep it restrained long enough for Alzack to take the free target and blow its head off, followed by its chest cavity, both shoulders and both knees, returning the clone to the earth. "But this is harder than it looks!"

I grunted, using Gravity Hammer to surprise a Sol right out of its attempt to launch a massive fist at where Loke was tearing through everything and anything which came near him in punches that trailed light like he was wearing lightsabers. A second later the playboy-spirit put those same glowing hands through its chest back to back, then _heaved_ and tore the clone apart down the centre with a growl.

I raised an eyebrow at that, and behind his sunglasses, I could see the disguised Leo catch my gaze. His eyes flickered to Lucy for a moment, and I gave a shallow nod even as I broke off a third of the debris orbiting above Max, Lucy, Alzack and I to launch the cluster like a shotgun blast at what looked like several Sol clones who had become an amalgamation and were stretching like mud to wall in the big guy with the skull motif. The rocks blew enough holes in that makeshift wall to make Sol seem more Swiss than French, and the trapped Mage took advantage of the opening to power through the wall with a shoulder-charge, an orange corona of light surrounding him with a sound like an elephant trumpeting.

I clicked my teeth as I looked around, blasting a group of Shades off their feet with a Shinra Tensei that lifted them into Bisca's line of fire.

The sharp sound of a shotgun speaking rang out several times in what seemed like less than a second, green magic circles appearing over each of the Shades' torsos for a moment before they were torn asunder in a fashion more reminiscent of 20mm grenades than any shotgun I knew of.

"There's just no end to them..." I muttered, feeling out with both of my more esoteric senses even as I scanned the battlefield.

The Fairy Tail Mages were tearing through the Shades and Sols like they were tissue paper, but there were so _many_ of them that we were only just about keeping level. I myself was wiping out groups at a time, while Master Makarov seemed to be incinerating the Shades just by _glaring_ at them, while his summoned constructs were going to town and utterly devastating whatever came near them. But the enemy's numbers were constantly replenishing, almost faster than we could cut them down.

I wasn't sure how much time we had left - but I seriously hoped I hadn't changed anything that would lead to Natsu and Totomaru's fight taking any longer than it had in the manga. I didn't think I had - I hadn't actually changed much of anything yet, after all. Sure, there was the more positive ending to the Lullaby job with Eligor being taken into custody and Fairy Tail's good deeds going unshadowed by the disaster of the Clover Meeting Hall being destroyed. I'd also managed to make the Galuna Island job end more positively, with the team receiving the reward as well as the Zodiac Key and with everything above-board.

But those weren't big changes. In fact, I didn't particularly _want_ to make changes...

Or, at least, not to the things that had happened so far. I _was_ going to have an affect on things eventually - I knew that damn well. But, as of yet everything we did was on the...well, not _small_ scale, but certainly nothing as big as the Tower of Heaven.

The time for such things would come - but for the moment, I would make use of my semi-certain knowledge of the future to prepare. After all, I had only read about a hundred episodes of the manga when the total published volumes was pushing 500 by the time I left Earth. There was a _lot_ yet to come that I didn't know anything about, and I needed to be ready.

And I had to admit, as I activated Bansho Ten'in and Shinra Tensei simultaneously, pulling a Sol clone and pushing its centre of mass away until its head, arms and legs all cracked and broke off to join the debris over my head and its torso went rocketing off into the crowd - where I saw a flash of bright green as a hand caught the projectile and spun around, a dangerous red glow suffusing the rock before it was thrown away into a group of Shades. Seconds later, it detonated in a bright flash of heat and light, and I focussed a bit more on that area of the battle.

Shadow Gear were standing together - and, I realised, they were the ones keeping any of the opponents getting near Bisca. While the markswoman was doing much the same thing as Alzack, though her attacks had more collateral damage, Levy, Jet and Droy were standing around her, holding back the horde in their area.

Jet was alight with his High-Speed Magic, a blurry figure that was beating Shades into submission and serving as a delivery system for his teammates. Droy was kicking and punching at the Shades who charged him, keeping them off him long enough to retrieve seeds from the pouches on his bandoliers and deploy them. The ground around him was utterly alive with plant-life, all of which seemed to be linking together and working in harmony. Some plants were writhing about, swinging heavy, fist-like growths as weapons; others waved feelers and lightning-fast vines to hold Shades in place, while others still seemed to launch needles and stingers into their opponents.

Judging by the neon-bright colours those plants displayed, I was guessing those were poisonous.

Still other seeds were primed and then passed to Jet, who would press them into any Sol that came close, where they instantly took root and either overran the clone with vines and drained it of nutrients until it collapsed or just straight-up broke it apart.

Levy was also being protected by a wall of plant-life, but she wasn't idle. She traced words in the air and sent them off, causing Sols to crumble, Shades to burst into flame, opening the earth to swallow more puppet soldiers and divesting clones of their appendages with cutting waves of wind and blasts of energy. If Jet got hold of something he wanted to weaponise, she would empower it - turning them into incendiary grenades or talismans that would cause the rock around them to crumble on impact.

Together, they were holding their own and keeping Bisca safe between them.

I nodded approvingly as I gave them a breather by amplifying the gravity in a ring around their fortifications at up to six inches above ground level, causing anything there to start compacting itself down into the ground, and resulting in an open space of crushed cloth and rubble, even the purple mist of the Shades kept close to the ground by its own weight.

Shadow Gear blinked, glancing around before noticing me - and I noticed the way the fire in their eyes grew as they did.

They all nodded, then turned back to fighting - harder than before, even.

 _'That's certainly interesting...I wonder what caused-'_ Abruptly, I felt a strange shiver go down my spine - as if every instinct and iota of sensory ability I possessed were trying to communicate to me some great terror.

 _"JUVIA SHALL NEVER FORGIVE THOSE WHO STEAL AWAY MEN!"_

 _'...that...?'_

Then the top of one of the towers at the corners of Phantom Lord's base erupted in a mighty geyser, while at almost the same instant the area of the building above the Jupiter Cannon's barrel exploded like a Michael Bay movie.

 _'...Well, at least we don't have to worry about the Jupiter Cannon. But really, I have to wonder what's going on in there...'_

* * *

 _Gajeel's POV_

 **"Fire Dragon's Claw!"  
**

Natsu's foot, expelling flames like a rocket, crashed into Gajeel's torso just like the jet-propelled weapon his abilities so resembled, lifting the Iron Dragon Slayer off his feet in a burning maelstrom and launching him across the room and out through the exterior wall, the dark-haired Dragon Slayer bouncing across the barrel of the Jupiter Cannon like a skipping stone before managing to get the surface under him and skid to a halt by digging in with his hands and feet.

Gajeel had barely managed to stop when the pink-haired Dragon Slayer was on him, fists extended and swinging for the torso. Iron-scaled arms came up and caught the blows in a cross-guard, before the X broke outwards and forced Natsu back, giving Gajeel time to get to his feet and charge forward himself.

The following exchange occurred as a blur, punch-counter-twist-haymaker-retreat-jab-elbow-kick all flying by in an instant as the two forces of nature clashed, spot-melted metal drops arcing through the air and caught in the shockwaves that expanded from where blows were landed and exchanged, leaving a glittering, molten rain to fall to the water below like Natsu was some strange glowing cloud.

The combo was finally broken when the heavier Gajeel managed to exploit a flaw in Natsu's stance, forcing the younger Dragon Slayer to a knee and then swinging into a kick, his leg sprouting an iron tree-trunk in the moments before it slammed into his opponent.

The Fire Dragon Slayer went flying off the cannon's barrel, quickly falling out of sight - but even as Gajeel took a moment for himself to breath, he suddenly _re-appeared_ on the other side, flames at his feet and fists once more in front of his face -

And suddenly _in_ Gajeel's face.

Iron shot from the Dragon Slayer's arm and wrapped around the barrel of the cannon, anchoring itself before reeling in its progenitor, launching Gajeel into the air when he put both hands in front of him and began rapid-fire launching throwing knives and kunai at the teenager before him, a near-solid storm of deadly metal much like he had used on the trash in the park.

Black eyes narrowed as the flames around Natsu's hands reached a new level of brightness, his palms facing one another, his elbows out to the sides. **"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"**

Then he brought his palms together.

Gajeel flung a hand in front of his eyes as the cannon below him vanished in a burst of supernova-brightness that seared his sight, feeling his own weapons ping off his scale armour even as sweltering heat, tangible even through his armour, conjured a sweat on his brow.

He had never been so glad that his Scale Armour involved sheathing his hair with carbon-rich iron that served to retain the shade while also turning his wild mane into the equivalent of a porcupine's back.

Touching down on the solid surface of the cannon and rolling on ingrained instinct, blinking spots away from his eyes, Gajeel regarded Natsu with narrow-eyed intensity. "...Why?"

Taking the moment to re-adjust his stance without taking his eyes off the other Dragon Slayer, Natsu narrowed his eyes in turn. "Why what? Do you not have room for words in that rust-bucket you call a brain?"

The Iron Dragon Slayer grimaced, promising the other man would pay for that one in blood, but continued anyway. "Why do you trash bother fighting? None of you are anything without the rest of your trash guild or without your monster of a Guild Master, so why do you still stand up knowing you'll just get beat down again?"

Natsu growled. "Just 'cause Fairy Tail are stronger together..." He declared, "doesn't mean that we're weak alone!"

Gajeel spat to the side. "You say that, but I handled all those trash in the park easily!"

Black eyes flashed, and a decidedly draconian smirk pulled at Natsu's lips. "Yeah? _Then what's that mark on your arm?"_

Reflexively, iron-sheathed fingers jerked to the opposite fore-arm - feeling how the scales there didn't quite sit together right, feeling the throb of the skin and muscle beneath.

"You got that because Declan's a strong fighter." Natsu declared. "But Levy's a strong thinker. Jet's a strong runner, and Droy's a strong gardener. Those might not fit your definition of strength...but every member of Fairy Tail is strong in their own way! And all those strengths come together in our family, we all stand together! We stand up, you bastard, because _there's no way in Hell we'll be beaten down!"_

Scarlet flames licked up and down Natsu's fists before roaring to full yellow-crimson life. "Now get over yourself and _grit your teeth!"_

The Fire Dragon Slayer crossed the distance separating him from his opponent in twin trails of light and ember, Gajeel barely raising his hands to catch the incoming blows - and wincing, as he felt his left begin to shake. Glancing at it for a moment, when he turned back he met the coal-black eyes directly across from him, and heard the next words their owner spoke in a sibilant hiss. _"Because I'm gonna show you just how strong my family made me."_

And with that, Natsu broke his right fist out of the weakened grip of Gajeel's left hand, secured the fingers of his left hand around Gajeel's right, grabbed the Iron Dragon Slayer's right fore-arm, spun around, and flipped the other man over his head.

 _'This feels familiar...!'_ Gajeel noted, before the full force of his own weight and Natsu's rocket-propelled Dragon Slayer strength met him literally head-on with his collision with the Jupiter's barrel.

There was a _crack_ , and Gajeel wasn't quite sure what had made it.

 _'Dammit...!'_ He thought to himself, kicking back with his leg, giving it extra length with an iron extension. "That goddamn trash...I refuse to let a damn bruise hold me back!"

"It's not the bruise!" Natsu yelled at him, flying back with a kick that Gajeel swayed to avoid, then catching himself on one foot and turning it into a spinning-kick to Gajeel's head that sent tremors up and down his left forearm, which he'd used to block it. "You can't beat me - because I've got my family on my side! For as long as I'm fighting for them..."

In a sudden departure from the battle as it had been thus far, Natsu grabbed ahold of Gajeel's forearms on the inside, pulling them together as the Iron Dragon Slayer's arms were pulled to the sides. _"No-one who doesn't understand that bond could ever stop me! **Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!"**_

And Natsu headbutted Gajeel right on the forehead, with a feeling akin to having an elephant land on him after falling ten thousand feet.

There was another _crack._

 _'What the Hell is this bastard going on about...?!'_ Gajeel asked himself, even as he staggered backwards, his head ringing, helped on his way by a foot burying itself in his armoured gut. _'Bonds...family...those are just weaknesses! Jose told me, I need to rely on myself if I want to be strong...!'_

As he straightened back out, already generating more iron to form massive hammer-heads over his fists, Gajeel's thoughts continued. _'But here I am, fighting for him. What does that make us? Do I respect him because he's strong? Or am I just hanging off him like those weaklings that crowd the Guild Halls hang off me and the Element Four?'_

Charging forward and jumping up, using the weight of his hammer-heads to turn his descent into a diagonal spin to gather momentum, Gajeel's train of thought continued between instances of trying to pulverize his opponent. _'Am I strong? Am I weak? If I'm strong, how did that trash in that park hurt me - why am I_ still _hurting?! But if I'm weak, then why?_ Why? _All these years of training, everything I learned from Jose...was all of it worthless?!'_

Gajeel overextended on a swing, and the Fire Dragon Slayer brought both his fists down on a hammer-head in, ironically enough, a hammer-blow, driving it down to the ground and giving him an opening into Gajeel's defenses which he immediately exploited, running forward and reversing the hammer-blow so that it crashed upward into the Iron Dragon Slayer's chin, lifting him off his feet for a moment and providing Natsu an opportunity to bring his feet up to his chest, pointing them straight at Gajeel's torso. " **Fire Dragon's Spear!"**

The resulting flame-empowered mule-kick slapped Gajeel across the length of the cannon's barrel like the pimp-hand of God, and for the second time in recent times the Iron Dragon Slayer was sent skipping along the length of the barrel like a stone, finally crashing into the back-wall of what remained of the Jupiter Cannon's Lacrima room.

As he lay among the dust and detritus, his eyes hidden by shadow, Gajeel's thoughts finally coiled together.

 _'...If this is what I've become...'_

He dragged himself into sitting up straight, then into crouching on one knee, pressing a hand to the floor beneath him.

 _'...If all my work and training, if everything I've learned has come to this...'_

His fingers wrapped around a large shard from what had once been a machine, and brought it to his lips where he took a massive bite out of it, chewing the iron like most people would chew a chocolate bar, feeling the energy it filled him with.

 _'Then I'll cast it all aside! Screw Phantom Lord's superiority; I'll fight...because I want to fight!'_

Gajeel stomped forward, cracking his knuckles as he emerged into the rain which had begun to fall around the base, facing his opponent - whose flames didn't seem in the least affected by the magically-induced rain fall. _'Tch - figures it'd take more than water to put out those flames.'_

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, with 'bonds' and shit..." The Iron Dragon Slayer declared, before his arms shot out to his sides, and iron extruded along their lengths. A moment later, a keening sound of metal-on-metal started up as that iron took on edges, which in turn grew notches that began to spin faster and faster.

"But don't expect me to just give up! You say you've all got your own strength? Well _this is mine - and I'll prove that I'm the strongest by fighting my way to the top!"_

Across from him, Natsu's eyes narrowed again - before a smile which still showed his teeth, but was far more genuine than any he'd shown the other Dragon Slayer before, appeared on his face. "I'm still gonna beat the shit out of you for what you did to Declan."

Bringing one of his spinning chain-swords up in front of him, Gajeel twitched it towards himself. "Bring it, fairy!"

And with a roar of voice and flames, Natsu did just that.

* * *

 _Jose's POV_

Jose Porla was having a bad day.

Oh, the day before had been a shitshow all its own. The failure to capture the Heartfilia heiress, the failure to neutralise Makarov, the shame of having so many of his forces fall to the Fairy trash...

But _this._ _This_ day, took the _goddamn shit-cake and ate it too._

His Dragon Slayer had slipped his leash and immediately gone to hunt down Makarov's own pet lizard, and the resulting clash had not only totally destroyed any chance of the cannon ever firing again, it had taken Totomaru out in an instant, leaving him down to _two_ members of the Element Four - one of which he had ordered to remain in a certain room of the castle and conduct an 'I am Legion' assault along with his own Shades to offset their own dwindled supply of warm bodies to throw into battle, and the other of which was...

 _"JUVIA WILL NEVER FORGIVE THOSE WHO STEAL AWAY MEN!"_

...He should have listened to his father, all those years ago; never work with children or animals.

Then again, listening to his father had been the cause of the permanent make-up that caked his flesh and wouldn't, for love nor money nor magics great and small, _get off._

 _'Tch - useless, weak bastard...what kind of father runs off to join a travelling circus as a transvestite and leaves his only son behind?!'_

Turning his thoughts away from the man who he hated more than anyone on Earthland save Makarov Dreyer himself, Jose looked in disgust and a rage so incandescent it could be mistaken for a calm white at what had become of his assault.

Large chunks of his base were missing. Blown up in half a dozen ways, frozen, shattered, ripped away, burned -

There was a massive _thwump,_ and Jose glanced at one of the monitors in his backup command room (that damned Scarlet woman had ruined his first - her spear had pierced straight through the headrest of his custom-made command seat before ripping it from its mooring and hitting the wall with enough force to destroy everything in the primary command centre).

And now, he had lost one of his towers to _water damage._

There were at _least_ three Fairy Tail Mages in his castle - in his _home!_ One of them was apparently turning his carefully cultivated introvert of a water-flower into a hormone-driven teenager through their sheer _existence_ , another had knocked out one of his five most powerful Mages as an _after-thought,_ and the other was yelling some nonsense about manliness while repeating his own name every ten seconds, running everywhere and punching out anything humanoid he came across, usually shattering all the windows in whatever corridor he had entered.

 _'Do these people not realise how expensive high-quality glass is?! Let alone all the systems in those walls they're demolishing!'_

Jose could _feel_ his bank account shrivel with each new crack, each new thunder of water and each new rising plume of fire.

 _'...Fuck today. Just..._ fuck _today.'_

He looked at The Button.

It was innocuous enough - the same shade of bronze as the others on the console, distinct only by its placement carefully away from where it might be pressed by accident.

Still, this was The Button. He knew exactly what it did - but he would be the only Phantom Lord Guild Master ever forced to use it in a combat situation, and he didn't even know if it would _work_ with the base in the condition it was.

...Oh well, it wasn't as if he didn't already know how to deal with the situation.

He reached for the internal microphone. "Sol, stop your attack and patch up the holes in the walls."

Perhaps the Earth member of the Element Four was putting his infamous ability to gather information to pick up on the undercurrent of _**APOCALYPTIC FURY**_ present in his Guild Master's voice, but one way or another he didn't even bother with his usual 7-7-3 rhythm as his voice came back. " _Oui, Monsieur le Comte._ "

At the same time, Jose retrieved his own magical power from the Shades he was puppeting, refocussing it into an S.E. Plug as the familiar power-rush of his magical power roiled and twisted its way from his container, suffusing the connection and running into the systems that threaded through the base. The immense power of a Wizard Saint slid through the system, clinging where it passed and absorbing the systems into itself, standing in for what was missing through brute force and conjuring a shade of what was meant to be there.

"Super-Mage..." He whispered to himself. "Giant Phantom Mk II..."

He pressed The Button, at the same time surging his own magic and performing a technique he had never let another living soul know he possessed, a technique that would have had him instantly arrested by even an institute as incompetent as the Magic Council. At the very least, he knew that if Makarov had known before today that he had perfected this ability then he would never have lived to be a Wizard Saint.

But he had kept it hidden...until now.

 **OBEY - OH POWER OF LIFE THAT IS HOARDED BY LESSER SOULS!**

 **SINK! IN ORDER TO FULFIL MY PURPOSE!**

 **ULTIMATE SHADE MAGIC...**

 _ **NIFLHEIM.**_

* * *

 **Author's Note  
**

 **So, the most important news of the day is - I've started working in a sort of mutual edit-cycle with PSIness11. He's writing his own Fairy Tail SI, so the two of us are bouncing ideas off one another and basically serving as Beta Readers. Once he's got it posted, I hope you'll look him up and give his story a read.**

 **I feel like Juvia Vision™ should come with a disclaimer - at the very least, I wish I could disclaim that I wrote it, since I now have to know for a fact that I once dedicated time out of my life to trying to see Gray as the pinnacle of all human attraction.  
**

 **And I can't say that trying to think that way makes me uncomfortable, because being...I think the term is CIS white scum?...I am not entitled to an opinion and am not allowed to say how any such thinking is outside of my comfort zone because it constitutes a grievous insult to those who normally think in such a way.**

 **...Oops. Tumblr users, just ignore that last paragraph.**

 _ **Anyway.**_

 **Ah, another delayed chapter - but it's here now :). Very combat-heavy, as I pretty much said it would be last chapter; next chapter will be the 'Second Stage' of this battle, as Jose goes into his final form and this turns into more of a raid-boss event than anything else.**

 **So far as Declan's seemingly out-of-nowhere shift to a hyper-competent piece of living artillery, most of the explanation was given in the chapter. This is the kind of thing he could do _all the time_ \- but Fairy Tail doesn't generally call for a lethal response and a lot of the enemies Fairy Tail comes up against either works as foils for Declan's teammates to test themselves again or are too strong for him to directly affect, hence why these tactics hadn't been broken out before.**

 **I mentioned as far back as chapter 2 that the way Declan fights is how he _chooses_ to fight - I even acknowledged that it wasn't the most effective way.**

 **You've just borne witness to the most effective way; and now you understand why it isn't his chosen way.**

 **Apart from that, there's a bit of character development going on for Lucy, Shadow Gear and Gajeel; I'm not really sure about the explanation behind Gajeel's hair, but _somehow_ that mane never gets singed, burnt, set alight, cut off or grabbed, so I tried to give an explanation.**

 **Oh, a quick note - I'm going to be restarting my most-followed fic, Gloria Dei est in Tenebris, as a new story with proper planning and incorporated knowledge from RWBY Volume 4. So, I'll spend some time writing that from time to time. I have no idea whether or not this will actually make an appreciable difference in how often Music is updated, but we'll see.**

 **Now then, on to the reviews!**

 **Reviews:**

 **-Drunkle Qrow, Thanks for the encouragement; I hope you enjoyed the chapter!  
**

 **-Unknown4804, All taken care of!**

 **-Greyjedi449t, You say that, then I pull this with Jose and I suddenly feel like a bad person. An explanation is coming about what happened at the end there, though, so hopefully I haven't gone and made a liar of you xD**

 **-BadHum3r, If you're on Gloria's alert list, I imagine you got the message already, so suffice to say Gloria _will_ carry on in a new form.**

 **-Squadpunk 2.0, The clones are over - it's Vader time now!**

 **-Blacksword Zero, Thanks!**

 **-Ibn, Thanks for the congratulations, man. As for Declan's abilities - well, this is a good example of what can happen when he takes off the kids' gloves. Suffice to say that, later on in the series, I am going to pull some _serious_ physics bullshittery, and it shall be _glorious._ You ain't seen nothing yet :D**

 **-GingerFury, Thanks for the congratulations - and you don't need to worry about me abandoning Music, I tend to write at a very sporadic, rather lackadaisical pace, which means updates take a while...but I have no wish to stop writing this any time soon.**

 **-osaki-monti, Thanks for the compliment! Magic is, to me (and Declan), a wondrous thing with many permutations and applications; I try to give characters the applications of their abilities that they never displayed in canon just to showcase how _awesome_ they can be, and I have fun doing it. I expect I'll find at least a small twist to give everyone on both sides of the battlefields as time progresses.**

 **-Infernus est in animo, Don't worry, Declan's unique traits won't even really have an impact for quite a while yet, so you've got plenty of time - and even if you don't guess it, it shouldn't be a big deal.**

 **-Zeru'Xil, Oh, he very much will - but when you know as much about physics as Declan and I, you treat those things with the same amount of respect and pants-shitting fear that they very much deserve. They'll make an appearance, but not until Declan is sure he can fabricate and control them.**

 **-Bicorn, I imagine Declan will pull a Nagato at least once in this story, but that day is yet to come.**

 **-HelpfulNudge, Thanks for the compliment and the congratulations!**

 **-Haintrex, I'm glad you're enjoying the story, and I hope you continue to do so with this new chapter and those to come!**

 **-Blaze1992, Thanks for the compliment - I'm happy to hear that I've managed to put my own unique twist on the Fairy Tail universe for this story without completely ruining it, so I shall take your tipped hat and raise you a gracious bow.**

 **-YumiKnowsBest, While I did entertain the idea of going for the triple-pairing, I just had to consider whether or not I could be part of a relationship like that and the final answer I got back was a no. Considering Declan's circumstances, that would be even more true for him, so I'm afraid that won't happen in the main story. Perhaps in an omake, though. As far as whether or not Declan will ever reveal his own origins - well, 'the truth will out', and every main-cast Fairy Tail character's past has a way of coming back to them. Declan's past will have its moment, but that's all I'll say.**

 **-Grubkiller13579, There _are_ an awful lot of bad SI fics out there, but if you find mine to be acceptable, I'll accept that tip of the hat happily.**

 **-SidJ, I shall answer your question about overpowered techniques with this response: MUHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHA!**

 **-'Guest', Ch. 3, Jun 12 - In some ways, you're right; Declan is, compared to some of the other main cast members, less powerful overall. However, what happened with Gajeel is going to be a rare occurrence - an instance where Declan's ability to use his brain simply couldn't overcome the power difference. A scientist can devise the chemical formula for an explosive capable of toppling a dam, but if they can't get the materials, well, they're shit outta luck. As far as Gravity being a powerful ability...this chapter should hopefully clear up why that disparity exists. Well...beyond Natsu's plot armour, anyway :P**

 **-Void Butterfly, Oh, the attempts to rein in the property damage _will_ be a recurring point in the future, I assure you. As far as the Gura Gura no Mi is concerned...it's an interesting idea that could grow from abilities Declan already possesses, so I'll keep it in mind.**

 **-lennyface, I'm not going to ask for an apology for being compared to This Bites! and found lacking. You are entirely correct in that they have simply perfected the SI story, and I'm not even going to entertain the _idea_ that I can reach that level on my own. No, I'm just going to remain comfortably where I am and try to use what I learn from reading their story to make my own the best it can be. Still, thanks for the compliment; I just hope I don't become an Atlantis.**

 **-Fox Moonshadow, I fixed the 'triage'/'first-aid' mixup you noted; as someone who is actually first-aid _qualified,_ I should have been paying more attention to what I was writing, but I suppose we live and learn. I'm glad you feel that my fic's worth reading and that I've managed to make it interesting, and I hope you continue to enjoy my work into the future.**

 **-Keelan1210, Thanks for the compliment man, I hope you keep enjoying my work :)**

 **-ImpossiblePossibility, Declan can only control one fundamental force, Gravity - that's quite enough bullshit to be getting on with, never mind the King's God-Level BULLLLLLSHIIIIIIIIIIT.**

 **-otakuBR, Well, you're more legible than some of the writers on this site, so take pride in that ;) Thanks for taking the time to comment on my story, and thanks for the compliment - I hope you continue to enjoy my work!**

 **-'Guest', Ch. 15, Jul 6 - I'm glad you enjoy it; I'm not really a romance writer, so it's good to hear I'm doing something write :)**

 **-'Guest', Ch. 15, Jul 6 - Well, that's high praise indeed; I'm sure I speak for anyone you hold such a high opinion of when I say I'm honoured. I wouldn't say I'm that good, but if you enjoy it that much, then I hope you continue to do so.**

 **-charitymiller6047, I must admit to having the same 'guilty pleasure' mind-set towards SI fics, so you might say that my writing one is the ultimate expression of that hobby. I'm glad to know Declan fits well into the story, while I am also proud to say there will be an absolute bare minimum of angst in this story. Declan just doesn't care enough to spend hours at a time brooding and agonising, and by the time that changes he'll never be alone long enough to fall into the Emo trap. I'm glad you enjoy my work, and I hope you continue to do so :)**

 **-Falcodude, Thank you very much for the compliments, and I'm glad you hold my story in such esteem. It's pleasing to hear that I've managed to keep the interactions flowing smoothly, and I hope you continue to enjoy them into the future :)**

 **-CryptIXeeper, I know exactly what you mean, and so in case Declan's thought process in this chapter didn't cover it for you, I'll say that what has occurred so far, Declan felt no need to change significantly, and there were few to no repercussions from the changes he did make. That _will_ , however, change in the future - perhaps quite significantly if I can plan out the ripples well enough.**

 **-'Sir Gorgonzola', I'm going to keep writing this story for as long as I want to. If I reach the latest chapters of the manga before more is added, then I will either go on hiatus until more is presented, or just keep working with I already had. Whichever one happens, though, unless I lose interest completely I _will_ write up to Fairy Tail's end if it ever comes.**

 **-'Pyrologicas', Congratulations, you now hold the record for 'Longest Review'! And _what_ a review it is. You make very good points, so I'll address them.**

 **As far as more details about the environment go, I'll try and include that in the future; I received a similar complaint earlier in the story's life and tried to increase the amount of detail, but I guess it isn't quite enough yet. Ah well, we live and learn. And so far as sticking close to canon...Declan explained that this chapter, and the story won't always stick so close to canon. It's just that Declan hasn't had enough reason to really throw things off the wheels yet.**

 **As far as your hopes go, I kinda covered that, but I'll say this: I didn't go to the trouble of giving An Bu a name and personality just to completely forget about him and never reference him again, don't you fear. And things _will_ be different after Phantom Lord - the fight's going in a different direction, as you'll have seen if you read through the chapter to reach this ( xD ).**

 **I'm glad that the characters seem to be growing well, and I hope I can keep that up so you enjoy it.**

 **End of Reviews**

 **And with _that_ done, it's time for me to go. Thank you ladies and gentlemen, and good _night!_**

 ***begin playing Jessica by The Allman Brothers Band***

 **-Teninshigen**


	17. XVI - Nova

_Gray's POV_

Gray was pretty convinced that the girl he was fighting was insane.

First she started a fight with him, then she decided she had lost without either of them throwing a single attack, then she revealed she was functionally _immune to his attacks_ , before offering to trade Lucy for the battle ending.

And then, to top it all off, she yelled some nonsense loud enough to be heard back at the Guild and then the tower exploded.

Yes, Gray decided as he froze himself into a cocoon secured to the side of the tower's interior wall, this girl was _crazy_ \- and currently, she was several metric tonnes of sentient, boiling water which were flooding the tower he was occupying.

He gritted his teeth as he kept his hands pressed to the wall of his shelter, trying to keep it frozen despite the temperatures outside, trying to think of a solution to the problem at hand. _'Crazy boiling water lady. C'mon, dammit, there's gotta be_ something _I can do - I beat Natsu's head in every week!'_

But, then again, Natsu's flames tended to just come and go in moments - Juvia was a constant, unrelenting assault, even when she _wasn't_ focussed on him.

Pausing in his thoughts, Gray blinked - the pressure on the outside of his shield had stopped. Had she given up again?

Opening a small hole in front of his face, the Ice-Make Mage peered through it - and felt his jaw drop wide.

Just in time to almost swallow part of the hammer-shaped _tidal wave_ which ran down the tower and crashed right into his sanctuary, shattering it just as the temperature melted the ice.

Gray was swept away in the tide and crashed into the floor of the mansion, leaving an imprint and undoubtedly birthing an impressive bruise to be admired later. At the present, though, it was just his cue to _move_ out of the way of the second wave, flipping himself backward and bringing his hands together. **"Ice-Make-!"**

The incantation was cut off, though, when the water rose up from the ground and lashed out in streams, burning Gray's skin and causing him to curse, breaking his stance to try and stay out of the attacks' way. Unfortunately, Juvia kept them all right on his tail, and the Ice-Make Mage built up more and more injuries as he tried to find an opening to strike through.

Gritting his teeth as he leapt sideways out of the path of an incoming stream, then had to jump and press his legs against the wall before pushing off to get out of the way of _three more_ in its wake, Gray rushed through his usual casting sequence as the third tidal wave he'd faced in as many minutes roared towards him. "Dammit, just **freeze!"**

Lunging forwards with both hands, white light cupped between them, Gray loosed as much magical power as his anger could conjure for him, no construct in mind - just the command to become ice.

Light filled the tower's base for a moment as the Fairy Tail Mage struggled against the Phantom Lord Mage, each of them wrestling for control over the water and temperature - but in the end it was Gray who came out on top, causing a flash-freeze that drowned all visibility in the tower with a white fog of frozen water vapour, while new crystals snapped and grew all around, frost coating every surface and a tower, almost-serpentine icy pillar at the centre of it all.

Gray smirked to himself, relaxing a bit at having a chance to rest and breathe - or he did, until he heard a voice.

"To think, you could even freeze Juvia's boiling jealousy..."

The Ice-Make Mage's eyebrows twitched. _'Why did_ I _get the crazy one? Why couldn't it have been Elfman or Natsu?!'_

The fog began to clear, and Gray's eyes darted around, seeking his opponent - he'd need to retrieve his arms from the ice in front of him…

 _'Oi, that doesn't feel like ice...'_

Gray narrowed his eyes looking forward, and almost jumped out of his skin when his opponent's face appeared barely three inches in front of his own, behind a perfectly transparent layer of thick ice. His hands were cupping her cheeks in a deceptively tender way, with her head apparently having re-constituted itself right inside the cupped palms of his strike. "...Though, Juvia thinks she might boil for another reason now..."

Turning red, the Ice-Make Mage tore his arms away from the ice, causing the construct to collapse and freeing his opponent as he took rapid steps backward. "Don't say weird things, dammit - just..." Gray gestured randomly in the air for a moment, before levelling a finger at his opponent. "Just attack me again, we'll do-over!"

Looking up at him from the floor, where she was on hands and knees after dropping from the crystal where she had been trapped, Juvia just stared for a moment, before shaking her head, looking down and away. "...Juvia can't."

In front of her, the Ice-Make Mage let out a sound of garbled frustration that was more of a whine than anything else. Was it too much to ask that he get a normal fight?! _"Why not?!"_

Getting to her feet, Juvia cupped her left elbow with her right hand, looking to the side. "...Juvia can't hurt you..."

 _'Is she giving up again...?'_

Gray narrowed his eyes. "Wait, are you saying you can't win?"

The girl shuffled from side to side for a moment, looking up again. Around the two of them, the rain started falling through the drifting fog, the roof of the tower and the intervening floors having been destroyed during Juvia's first outburst. "...Juvia's heard about Lucy from Monsieur Sol - Juvia's much stronger than her; and since Gajeel defeated Declan..."

She hugged her arms closer to herself. _"Juvia can definitely protect you better than either of them!"_

Gray was...utterly lost. He had no idea what was even going on any more, and barely managed to question what the crazy lady was saying. "...Protect me...?"

The woman in blue turned bright red once again, turning from side to side, shuffling her feet, looking anywhere but at Gray. "Juvia...uh, that is...um... _I_..."

The rain started coming in heavier, carrying the fog from the air and to the floor, which had become mixed ice and water, leaving almost no safe footing even as Juvia kept making humming noises, pronouncing the same syllable over and over as if she couldn't bear to say what she was trying to.

The despairing Ice-Make Mage looked to the clouds visible through the now torrential downpour coming down the wrecked tower, and offered a silent plea to whatever God might be listening. _'Please...please, just let things start making sense again. Let me have a fight without all this weirdness!'_

Raindrops fell on his eyes, and Gray blinked them away irritably. "Damn rain..." He muttered, looking back to where Juvia stood in front of him…

And finding wisps of steam roiling away from her body once again. _'Oh goddammit.'_

* * *

 _Juvia Vision™_

 _Oh, why did it have to be so hard to say how she felt?!_

 _After the man had managed to soothe her feelings with such an overpowering display, touching her so gently before freeing her from the confinement he had created, she had done her best to put what she was feeling in words. She...wasn't very good at words, she knew, but the encouragement he gave her, the admonishing reminder not to simply give up, helped her push onward._

 _And she knew that he might think she was silly for wanting to protect him, being as strong as he was, but still, such a man deserved to be protected! She wanted to preserve someone like him (she could start by_ utterly annihilating the harlot who dared sink her claws into **Juvia's man** -) _...and at the very least, the man's consort - Declan - seemed to need protection. Gajeel had held a particularly low opinion of him, so he probably hadn't been able to fight very well._

 _She was so close, too - it was only three syllables! Yet, she fell away after only getting halfway!_

 _"I lo...lo...Juvia lo...I..."_

 _Why oh why must three words be so hard to say?!_

 _She took a deep breath, ready to try once more -_

 _Only for the man to lower his head from where he had looked to the clouds, blinking rapidly and shaking his head._

 **"Damn rain."**

 _...oh._

 _Why...why had he said that? He..._ why would he say that?

He was just like them! Just like all the others - all those countless people she had met who complained about the rain that followed her, from the children to the teenagers to the adults, even that _**asshole**_ Bora, who had left her because he couldn't stand the gloom!

She hated them, hated all of them - she shouldn't have forgotten herself, she was a Phantom Lord Mage; one of the Element Four! She didn't need _**love**_ \- and she would prove it by destroying the bastard in front of her!

* * *

 _Gray's POV_

As Juvia dissolved into boiling water once more, Gray grimaced and brought his hands together, pooling white light between his fingers. **"Ice-Make: Wall!"**

As the structure rose in front of him, he focussed his magic through it, thinking to freeze her again before she could really get going or build up another tidal wave -

Only for the Element Four member to blow through his defence like it wasn't even there, ignoring his magical power entirely and catching him up in a riptide that immediately began to burn his skin. He closed his eyes to try and protect them even as he desperately tried to lower the temperature around himself enough to survive, finding it difficult to keep his focus among the burning.

Things got worse when he began pinballing off solid objects that he suspected were the walls of the tower, feeling a bit sick as he spun all around in the current, smashing into things and barely holding onto his breath as he tried to think of a way out of his predicament.

Then he was suddenly out of the water - and opening his eyes wide, he could see why.

The tower was growing smaller below him as he was hurled into the sky - but the rate at which it shrank was slowing, and it wouldn't be long until he was falling.

 _'_ This _is the kind of situation where I wish Declan didn't get his ass kicked.'_

It was amazing how quickly he'd become used to the idea of having a means of air-transport that _wasn't_ Happy - but then, Declan was probably looming over Lucy like usual, either poking her into kicking ass or flipping whatever was threatening them over his shoulder.

Business as usual, while Gray was falling through a torrential downpour towards an entire tower full of angry, boiling water-woman with no landing strategy.

This was more like it - a proper fight!

Considering his options quickly, Gray brought his hands together, forming a fair approximation of his casting stance as he fell, focussing on a series of shapes as he moulded his magical power. **"Ice-Make..."**

Ice crystallised from the air, sheathing his skin, securing to his feet, solidifying in his hands. **"Armour, Board, Parasol!"**

His skin glittered like frost - which was fitting, since frost covered it from his toes to his hair, hopefully providing at least a temporary defence against the high water temperatures. The board beneath his feet was as solid as he could make it on the fly, a design he'd seen at the Akane Beach resort one time, while the object in his hands mostly _resembled_ a parasol. It had a shaft that was about as long as a jousting lance, coming to a tip. Spreading back from that tip was what looked like a partly-opened parasol; from behind, it was a hexagon, while from the front it was obvious that each point of the shape extended forward to the top, narrowing until it was more like an unconventional spear than anything else.

Gray had barely finished making his preparations before he hit the water lance-first. The shape diverted the water around the Ice-Make Mage, while the board - even though it started to melt away from the moment it first made contact - stopped him from dropping into the rushing current that formed the floor of the artificial tunnel he had created with the lance. Stray drops and spray leapt from the walls but were largely stopped by his icy covering, and with the combination of spells Gray managed to make it through the onrushing water, his heavily-weakened board shattering on the ground as he landed, even as he tossed aside the barely-there lance away to shatter.

The water had come to a halt in the air above him - from where he stood, Gray thought the great mass looked almost like a curling dragon waiting to drop, even if he could just imagine the pale girl at its centre.

As the floating river arrowed down towards him, trailing streamers and steam from its boiling surface, Gray gathered most of his remaining magical power to his hands, falling into his casting stance as he closed his eyes.

 **"Ice-Make..."**

He held his pose, gathering more and more power, the glow in his hands reaching a blinding luminescence as he heard the water rush closer and closer, waiting for the perfect moment.

Then he felt the heat on the crown of his head, and his eyes snapped open as he raised his arms as if to catch the sky itself. **"GEYSER!"**

The sound that followed his spell was similar to the noises trees made in high winds - if God turned the amp up to eleven. The creaking screech of the forming ice rubbing against itself got louder and louder as the white light spread along the water, crystals forming and growing along its length, impaling the walls of the tower like Gray's mace had impaled Juvia's shoulder not so long before.

It was hard - harder than anything Gray had pulled off before, even when he was preparing to use the Iced Shell on Galuna Island, if only because that spell drew on life force for a great deal of its power. Freezing what seemed like an entire storm's worth of boiling water solid while it pressed down on him, fighting against another Mage's magic all the way, was the single most intensive feat of magic Gray could ever recall pulling off.

But he _did_ pull it off - he felt the tipping point come and go, and the white light rushed onward. Not just encompassing Juvia's attack - the magic rippled beyond even where the rain woman's control extended, up into the sky, turning the torrential downpour into a brief hailstorm followed by sheets of thin ice as the clouds themselves froze over and fell apart, thankfully breaking up enough that they didn't crush everything below them.

Breathing hard as he recovered, Gray went to bring his hands down to his knees - only to find he'd frozen his hands in place again.

With a sigh, he wrenched the appendages from the crystalline mass that had subsumed the tower, stumbling as they came away heavier than he'd expected - and looked down to see what he'd brought with him.

In his arms, he found Juvia, staring almost unseeing up through the crystals between her and the sky, completely frozen over.

"SHIT!"

Gray quickly lowered her to the ground, before curling his hands into fists, pulverizing the ice between his fingers, and then _forcing_ them sideways - shattering the icy cocoon and freeing the woman...even though it didn't seem to change much.

Falling back so he was resting his weight on his hands, the Ice-Make Mage let out a long sigh, throwing his head back. "So, you okay? Cooled off?"

There was no response for a long moment, with Juvia's expression not changing from shell-shocked blankness...but as the clouds fell, crashing from the skies in a hailstorm that lasted only moments but still counted as the most intense weather phenomenon of its type ever seen in Magnolia, the life came back to her eyes.

And as sunlight shone through the newly opened hole in the heavens, reflecting and refracting through the crystals above to paint the world in rainbows and the blue of the clear sky, they came alive with tears as a wide smile spread across her features.

Gray, looking up, smiled as well - even as his chest kept heaving to feed air into his lungs. "Heh...I guess the rain cleared up, huh?"

* * *

 _Juvia Vision™_

 _He was/The sky was…_

 _So beautiful…_

 _So this was what she had been missing for so long…_

 _What a shame. With a sight like that, she was sure...the world could never seem dark or gloomy as it had for so long._

 _"Miss."_

 _She shifted her eyes to take in the sight of the man - of her saviour._

 _She understood, now; the rain...he had disliked it because it had kept her prisoner so! He was such a good man, he had drawn her ire to set her free, even though he'd been hurt in the process…_

 _And now, where he sat with his skin shining like diamonds and bathed in the rainbow light of the sun through ice, he grinned at her, her very own deliverer, an angel just for her._

 _"How would you like to..._ pick up where we left off? _"_

 _A host of images roared up from her mind, long ago buried by near-constant depression but now finally unlocked in full force, vibrant and lively and...and…_

 _She felt her face heat up rapidly, then sighed happily as she left reality to focus fully on the images in her mind._

 _She wasn't afraid - she knew her guardian angel would take care of her. Her lord, her protector..._

 _Her..._ Gray-sama...

* * *

 _Gray's POV_

"Gray-sama..." The woman whispered with a grin that made the Ice-Make Mage shiver, before her eyes rolled up in her head and she passed out, still with that silly smile in place.

Gray just looked at her and hung his head. "Dammit...I really wanted to keep fighting..."

Then the entire place came alive with malicious, poisonous purple light, and suddenly Gray found that not being able to get a fight was the least of his problems.

* * *

 _Third Person POV_

Fairy Tail all took a few moments to cheer and catch their breath after they were sure that the army of Shades and Sols had, indeed, fallen apart without any sign of re-constituting themselves.

Macao and Wakaba both leaned on the other for help standing up and ended up toppling backwards as one unit, drawing a few raspy chuckles from the duo of Laki and Reedus, who had been back to back throughout the battle. Jet and Droy both tried to play off their own exhaustion to look their best in front of Levy, who shook her head in exasperation from where she was slumped on what used to be a Sol's torso.

A few members, though - Makarov, Erza and Declan among them - instead kept their focus on Phantom Lord's base, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

And drop it did - with a wave of malefic energy that no Mage in the area could fail to register regardless of their skill with magic sensing.

Like poison through veins, purple light shone through the building's walls, highlighting the systems within and behind them. The rocky protuberance below the building abruptly seemed to run _upward_ like a liquid, flowing across those same walls and filling in the holes Fairy Tail had created, repairing the main structure of the building and revealing another another floor which had been hidden in the rock, as well as what appeared to be a complicated mechanical undercarriage and the folded legs.

Those legs stirred to life once more, unfolding and raising the Guild Hall into the air with the grinding of gear-on-gear and the scream of metal as the water below rushed to fill the void left behind.

When the building was standing once more, the purple glow intensified, heralding a second change. The front pair of legs were lifted off the ground as the entire building began _tilting backwards_ through the use of the rear two pairs, exposing its seemingly nonsensical, largely bronze undercarriage to Fairy Tail; then all three pairs were summarily ejected as the structure was balanced on a new, thicker pair - with circular knees, relatively spindly bronze joining between the 'hip', the joint and the foot itself, which was more like a hoof - that were pushed outward from the castle's rear towers.

With the building stable, the foundation - which seemed to be at least half bronze, bearing exhaust pipes, metal plates and piping all riveted into place, with some components sunken into the building and others protruding - began to change as well. Parts shot forward from what were revealed to be recesses, including a curved section that spanned the length of the building like half a wheel and two large, handle-like sections of piping - one to either side of the curved area.

The front towers abruptly exploded outwards and rotated forward to reveal long, mechanical arms. They were spindly, like the building's original legs, with bulky circular elbows and three dis-proportionally large fingers on each 'hand'. The 'shoulders' resembled pauldrons, and were at the level of what was once the building's front but had now become its top, where there were two lines of exhaust pipes funneling steam and smoke into the atmosphere, with what appeared to be a helmet with two glowing purple eyes set between them.

The final result bore only a passing resemblance to a human, armoured or otherwise...

At least, until the purple Magic once more began to move.

It seeped from beneath the stone and bronze, the systems' glowing outlines submerged just like their casing in a near gel-like layer of Shade. The substance spread over the entire construct, running from the shoulders down to the feet, burying the outline of the Super Mage Giant Phantom Mk. II under its opaque surface.

In moments, the flood of gelatinous Magic protruded far enough from the structure itself that the bulky, knight-like mecha had been replaced by something much more human-looking - and all the more terrifying for it.

Still possessing three fingers and cloven feet, the end result was rather like a several-storey dark-purple dwarf with skin that churned like mud in a blender, refusing to reflect light and instead emitting its own.

Fairy Tail stared at it for several long seconds - but several members were distracted by a strangled cry of pain, whipping around in expectation of another assault to find Declan Ross clutching his head with his right hand, eyes wide and skin even paler than it had been when he first arrived.

Lucy was hovering right beside him, obviously trying to figure out what was wrong, but looked up when Makarov spoke.

"Ross, pull yourself back - you need to keep your magic locked in close."

The dark-haired teen seemed to hear, taking deeper breaths - but he shuddered, clutching his head harder, and Makarov frowned at him before speaking again - and this time, there couldn't be even unintentional disobedience.

 **"Focus on Lucy, Ross!"**

There was a moment's pause, then an explosive breath out from the Gravity Mage before he began breathing properly again, lowering his hand and wiping it off on his trousers, trying to rid it of the sweat his forehead had accumulated.

While Lucy was talking quietly to her partner, Makarov turned back out to the monstrosity before him. He was beyond angry, at this point - beyond fury and rage. His emotional investment was no less diminished, but the situation had become greater than even destroying the threat to his children.

Now, he knew that the _complete destruction_ of Jose Porla was his _duty._

"Shade Magic..." He spoke to himself, knowing that every ear was turned to him. "Is the art of giving form to what might have been and what has been in the past. Like shadows cast upon the present, it uses magical power to give form to the impressions of that which doesn't exist in our time. Every soldier created, every 'ghost' manipulated, is a being that existed at one point or which might have existed in the future. It can work on semi-intelligent beings, inanimate objects, even energy.

"But this goes beyond that."

The old man looked on the abomination that Jose had wrought with a face that could have been carved from stone. "All Magics can be made easier with a reagent - and many Dark Mages use sacrifices for such a thing. There are even some good Mages whose arts require the sacrifice of blood or other substances as a trade or as a power source.

"Shade Magic is no different. Because with a reagent to hand, it is possible for a Shade Mage to much more easily access that which it has been and that which it might yet become.

"And if that Shade Mage can get ahold of another Mage - then they can draw away all the magical energy that Mage could yet accumulate."

There was widespread confusion among his children, though a few showed dawning comprehension - but it was Erza who spoke up. "Master, I don't understand - you mean Jose is drawing on another Mage's power?"

The Fairy Tail Guild Master nodded. "Not just one, Erza - to have access to this much magical power, he must be accessing all of his remaining Guild members."

"Son of a _bitch._ "

Makarov glanced back. "I'd imagine you understand that feeling now, Ross?" He turned forward once more, his three Pillar Gods lining up and preparing for battle as more golden light began to coalesce in his hands. "Magical power can come in part from emotion and from the state of someone's being. Joy, rage, fear, greed...but also pleasure - and _pain._

"That magical power is full of the pain of Jose's Guild Members...as their Master _drains away their futures to power that monstrosity before us."_

Horror spread from face to face throughout the crowd of Mages, the feeling becoming anger as Magic was prepared once more.

"This magic that Jose has wrought is an abomination. By the laws of Fairy Tail and the Magic Council, it must be destroyed, all trace of it removed from existence.

 **"FAIRY TAIL!"** Makarov commanded, flaring with power as he began to grow, his frame packing on new mass until he stood level with the monstrosity, looking into its shining, pinprick eyes. _**"DON'T LEAVE EVEN A TRACE OF THIS BUILDING BEHIND!"**_

Then he stepped forward, raising hands shrouded in golden luminescence, and the building did the same.

The titans met, air and water receding from the shockwaves produced in the collision, as the almost ant-like figures around Makarov's feet began their charge, lights streaking away from the shore to impact on the magical skin of the building which had, in some ways, become Jose - a monstrous Shade under his full and direct control, powered through the sacrifice of his Guild Members.

Golden eyes and purple held and locked, and each Guild Master had the exact same thought.

 _ **"I WILL REMOVE YOU FROM EXISTENCE!"**_

* * *

 _Declan's POV_

I was just closing my hand into a fist to accompany the abrupt implosion of a Sol clone when, in an instant, each Shade and Sol across the battlefield stopped.

An instant passed without any movement - then, the dirt-and-rock Sols began to crumble, the magical resonance echoing from the power within them vanishing as that power retreated, just as the Shades seemed to burn away in the sun. It only took five seconds for most traces of the enemy to disappear near-completely, leaving Fairy Tail standing as one confused mass.

Taurus was looking around sharply, Labrys still raised, much as his master was - though Lucy was breathing heavily, eyes darting everywhere as she held her whip ready. The sword, it seemed, had disappeared with the Shades.

"What...happened...?" She questioned, drawing confused shrugs from Max and Alzack, and a grunt from me when she turned in my direction.

"The magical power's gone; they've retreated for now."

The blonde's brow furrowed. "But why? What changed?"

"I'm not sure..." I muttered, turning to look out at Phantom Lord's base. "But, I doubt it's anything good."

Natsu had destroyed the Jupiter Cannon - judging from the yell earlier and the massive watershow that had ended up turning one of Phantom Lord's rear towers into what seemed like one giant ice crystal, but had ended after the clouds froze and fell away from the sky, leaving sunshine behind, Gray would have already... _neutralised_ Juvia.

That left Sol and Gajeel. Opening up my magical sense, I couldn't detect the Iron Dragon Slayer, so he wasn't sneaking up on us to try and kidnap Lucy - but I also had no idea if Elfman would run into Sol, since the Earth Mage had probably locked himself away somewhere to run his puppet show from safety.

 _'Okay - Juvia and Totomaru have been taken out, and Aria was never in play this time. Sol has to be running low on magical power - or, at least, I_ hope _he is after a display like that - so the Giant Phantom might not be an option...unless that was a purely mechanical thing? There was a lot of steam and steampunk technology in the manga design...but at least the Abyss Break should be impossible unless Jose just plugs himself and Gajeel into it or something -'_

My attempt to reason out what had caused the sudden cessation in hostilities, however, was interrupted when I felt the same deathly magic roll over me that had woken me in the hospital - stronger than before, at the new distance. The purple light that began suffusing the structure gave me a bad feeling - Jose hadn't been able to do that in the manga. Or...then again, maybe he _had_ \- after all, Fairy Tail hadn't really done much damage to the place before Natsu and Gajeel faced off and Makarov used Fairy Law on it, after all.

The sudden realisation that Jose might well have capabilities I hadn't been expecting came to me at roughly the same time the building's stoney base was re-used to patch up the holes in the walls, and the Guild Hall's transformation sequence began.

Watching it happen, it didn't make any more sense than it had in the manga - I couldn't understand how the thing could possibly move or function, let alone how it all folded away like it did.

 _'Magic. It has to be - I might not be an engineer, but I can call bullshit when I see it.'_

Then, a new sensation began protruding on my seventh sense.

I frowned, closing my eyes and turning my attention to it. I didn't recognise the feeling, but it was growing stronger so I could probably get an idea of -

 **PAINPAINPAINAGONYSUFFERINGTORTUREDYINGDYINGSAVEMEHELPMELIFEDRAININGHEARTFAILINGMAGICGOINGPAINAGONY**

Most of my consciousness died a quick death the instant I properly homed in on the magical resonance of the spell drenching the Phantom Mk. II, reduced to a panicked need to keep breathing and try to contain the inhuman suffering that my own ability was pumping into my brain.

I could barely hear anything, my blood was rushing too loudly in my ears, the sounds nonsensical as pain overwhelmed understanding. My eyes were open but I couldn't see, I felt sick, cold, feverish, dead and alive at the same time, my existence ending and continuing at the same time as that continuation started to shut down -

Makarov's voice drifted through, a breeze of golden wind amidst the dark, sludgey hurricane that tore at me, and I tried to follow it. To pull back, to centre myself, cut off the connection. I began to pull away - but a whole new wave slammed into me after only seconds, undoing my progress and even making things worse, sending me diving deeper into the well of suffering that filled the air. It was no use, I couldn't breathe enough, there wasn't enough blood in my veins and my heart couldn't beat fast enough and everything was breaking down and _ending_ -

Then Makarov spoke again, and this time it was like a solar flare shot through the darkness and burned it away, leaving a single instant of perfect clarity.

 _ **LUCY.**_

 _The sound of soft breathing and rustling pages; warmth of body and soul, light and soft even with a core of steel; an assurance of devotion and faith, a will strong enough to hold the world together; the smell of strawberries; LIGHT, young and new but no less brilliant than the brightest of stars, enveloping all and cradling instead of consuming._

My mind and magic locked on to the existence that was Lucy Heartfilia, holding tight to it, focussing on it to the exclusion of all else. The radiance of it blew away the suffocating hell that had enveloped me like it had never even been there, soothing what hurt remained until it was hard to believe there had been a time that this hadn't been the way of things.

I blinked, and I could see again - I could hear Lucy's voice beside me, talking quietly as a hesitant hand rested on my good shoulder. My hand was clutching my forehead, and as I pulled it away the amount of sweat on it made me grimace before I wiped it off as best I could.

"Declan, are you alright? Can you hear me?"

I looked over at Lucy, meeting cherry-wood eyes once more and basking in the glow that came from behind them. "I can now. Sorry about that."

The blonde let out a breath and relaxed a bit, smiling. "Thank goodness..."

She looked up again, squeezing my shoulder a little tighter. "Don't do that again, got it? You're getting hurt way too often lately."

I nodded. "Got it, Lucy." Straightening once more, I coughed, feeling how rough my throat felt and the pain in my jaw from where it had clenched. "I'm going to have to be more careful with my sensing, apparently...I've never felt anything that strong before."

I paused, glancing at my partner once more. "Well, technically, I guess."

Lucy raised a querying eyebrow - but whatever question she was going to ask was cut off when Makarov began his explanation and we both listened in.

 _'Okay, Shade Magic suddenly seems far more terrifying - that sounds like it treads dangerously close to shadow-sifting. Jose being a Wizard Saint is believable if that's his actual ability.'_

When Makarov explained how Jose was displaying such a titanic amount of magical power, my eyes narrowed. _'So he's using his Mages as a power source - by manifesting the magical power that they could generate? But he specifically said that it's a 'sacrifice', and if my Theory is correct then even Earthland needs to abide by Conservation of Energy; so, Jose's taking the magical power from the Mages' futures? But, if that's the case...'_

I blinked. "Son of a _bitch._ "

 _'That magical power that Jose is manifesting now can't just come from nowhere - he's displacing it from the future to exist in the present, and that means it won't be available to those Mages in the future. But Mages need their magical power in order to_ live _\- Jose is literally draining years off his Mages' lives to power his spell!'_

My respect for Jose Porla capped out. _'It's official - the man is a_ monster _, both in attitude and in power. Why wasn't there anything like this in the manga?!_

 _'...Stupid, stupid question; Fairy Tail never pushed this far in the manga. Porla_ knew _\- quite fucking rightly, as it seems - that he could handle Erza, Natsu, Gray and Elfman even after they beat the Element Four; the only time he would have needed to escalate this far is in the face of Makarov at full power, and he obviously didn't expect Fairy Law from him right out of the gate.'_

Looking up at the towering behemoth of corrupted magical power before me, I found myself with a whole new perspective of my future. _'This is_ Jose Porla - _a villain that Makarov took out in_ one shot _during the...what, fourth? Fifth arc of the story? There are at least another three arcs, two of them massive, before I run out of knowledge - and assuming an average of five or six arcs per 100 or so chapters, then there are at least twenty arcs I don't know about yet to come._

 _'Fairy Tail was shonen - it_ escalated. _If this is the kind of truth I can expect to find in a world where the tropes aren't running things…_

 _'Then this is going to be a much more difficult journey than I had anticipated.'_

And it was with that thought that I was given the order to charge - and I jumped into the air, grabbing Lucy as I went. The Celestial Spirit Mage just wrapped one arm around my waist, forgoing our usual convention to make things easier on me, which I appreciated as we accelerated, taking a wide, curving path outside the battling titans' reach.

 _'Still, it might be difficult for me - but there are some people I_ know _will make it past all that.'_

"What's the plan, Declan?" Lucy asked, one hand resting on her Keys as we hit halfway along the arc and started to move behind the massive Shade.

"The Master wants that thing destroyed completely." I replied, scouring the surface of the behemoth with my eyes since my other senses were on shutdown. "And we happen to know a couple of guys who are _really good_ at that."

I frowned. "Assuming we can find them, anyway. Seriously, those two usually aren't so sub-"

And that was as far as I got before a point right about where the giant Shade's left kidney would have been exploded in a spinning torrent of ice and water that resembled a massive drill.

I glanced at Lucy, and she looked back at me then shrugged as best she could from her current position. "Speak the devil's name..."

I sighed slightly, then changed our path to intercept the two falling humanoid figures I could see falling among the chunks of ice and masonry. "Well, there's a name you could speak right now, but I don't think she would appreciate being called a devil."

Lucy blinked, then comprehension dawned and she drew a Key as we neared our targets.

 **"Open, Gate of the Water Bearer: Aquarius!"**

We hit the icy waterfall and exited the other side in seconds, now with three extra additions to our formation.

Aquarius was flying alongside us under her own power - the quintessential mermaid, with navy blue scales flashing along the fish's tail she had from the waist down in place of human anatomy. Her hair was a shade of blue closer to a clear sky, flowing down to her waist and kept out of her face by a circlet - a golden band around the back of her head from ear to ear, with the two arms held together by a silver chain across her forehead that bore a small triangular charm and a jewel like a water droplet.

A frill of very light blue fabric circled her waist, kept in place by a golden belt, the same shade as the engraved arm-bands on her upper arms and wrists. Apart from the psuedo-skirt, she wore a dark blue bikini top which left the black tattoo across her collarbone, which resembled stylised antlers near her shoulders and came together to an M-shape at the centre with the central point travelling further than the others, clearly visible.

In her hands she held a grey urn that resembled clay but probably wasn't, with a spiralling light/dark pattern around its circumference and twinned thin arms for holding it by.

As she glanced around, her eyes were a darker blue than even her scales, and didn't have a pupil.

"Well, this is a first - you actually found something worth my time to do."

Lucy sighed, hanging her head slightly - but not moving her arm, so as not to drop the tangled mess of Juvia and Gray's legs which she was supporting.

I myself had my right arm beneath Gray's shoulders, while the Ice-Make Mage himself had one arm keeping Juvia from falling off where she was lying on top of him - likely the result of Gray attempting to hit the water first and spare her some of the impact.

For a taciturn loner with a fairly short temper, he didn't hesitate to put himself in harm's way for others.

"We left you alone for half an hour and you _already_ managed to pick up a girl." I noted as we accelerated away from the massive Shade, gaining altitude as I brought us into a circling pattern, looking down on the purple behemoth as its skin was lit up with flares of light. "I think I understand why Macao and Wakaba drink so much now."

The Ice-Make Mage snorted. "Says the guy who had a marriage ceremony planned after...what was it? Two days?"

I sighed. "Touché, Fullbuster. Now," I glanced away from the ground below to the second of the two blunettes currently in our squadron, "who's this?"

"Juvia is Juvia." The woman currently lying on top of Gray replied, before the Ice-Make Mage could get a word in - shooting me what was quite possibly the single most terrifying glare I had experienced since coming to Earthland as she did so. "And Juvia would quite like to know who dares lay hands on her beloved Gray-sama!"

Gray let out a groan as both Lucy and I blinked. "I'm...Declan." I replied, shaking my head to clear it and looking to Gray once again, putting on my best deadpan. "Congratulations; I'll be sure to let Master Makarov know to dust off his book of ceremonies."

The Ice-Make Mage glared at me. "I swear to God I'm going to beat the hell out of you when this is over with." He twisted a bit, looking down at where Jose's massive Shade had just sprouted another set of arms below the first and begun alternately devastating Fairy Tail's beachfront with lasers and simply pummeling it, sending Mages scattering every which way and leaving puddles behind that began spawning Shade soldiers. "But we've gotta deal with that first."

I nodded. "The Master's keeping most of Jose's attention on himself…" I noted, adjusting our path as the two titans separated for a moment then clashed once more, sending shockwaves out in all directions. "And I don't know if he can see us up here."

Lucy, who had been listening with one ear while she held an argument with Aquarius, chose that moment to chime in. "He's probably too distracted by everyone else to pay any attention." Turning to the people whose legs she was keeping in the air, she did a quick once-over. "Gray, are you alright?"

The Ice-Make Mage grunted. "Yeah, Lucy - I'm still in one piece."

Juvia suddenly switched focus to Lucy - until the distinct feeling of killing intent thrummed across the space around us. " _ **LOVE RIVAL…"**_

My partner swallowed abruptly. "Um...what?"

' _Well, Juvia's firing on all cylinders, that's for sure - but I should probably get us on an attack run before she blasts us all out of the sky.'_

"Juvia," I interrupted, "you were helping Gray when you escaped Jose's spell, right?"

The blunette pulled her murderous gaze away from Lucy long enough to answer. "Of course - Juvia served Gray-sama as best she could!"

I calmly re-routed the exact wording of what she was saying into my mental quarantine, sifting it for meaning before replying. "Excellent. Gray, do you have another few spells in you or has Juvia worn you out already?"

The answer I got was a snowball coalescing from thin air and smacking me in the face.

"Answer received. I've still got enough power to get us in and out with plenty to spare, so that leaves…" I turned to Aquarius, who was floating through the air beside us as we circled. "You."

The Celestial Spirit of Water met my gaze with the kind of look that suggested being addressed by someone like me was closer to a novelty than anything else - a novelty she entertained like an adult might entertain a child asking a stupid question. "You want something, boy?"

I ignored the attitude - if she wanted to be a bitch, I'd ignore her like one. "How tightly focussed can you make those whirpool attacks of yours?"

Aquarius considered me for a moment, then sniffed. "I could pass this whole lake through the head of a needle, boy."

' _Why is it that Lucy's Celestial Spirit is more like a stuck-up rich girl than she is?'_

"Well in that case, you form the core of the attack." I told her, continuing by glancing at the others. "Juvia, you surround that core, try pulling off the same rotation you did before. Gray, you form the point, make sure the attack makes it through."

Juvia looked to Gray, who strangled a groan and nodded. "Juvia shall do her best for Gray-sama!"

Aquarius, on the other hand, sneered at me, then draw a breath - probably to berate me for ordering her around…

"Just do it, Aquarius!"

Until Lucy turned on her.

The mermaid turned around to look at her contractor with a slightly disbelieving raised eyebrow, but didn't get a chance to get a word in sideways.

"I know you don't like me, or respect me very much…" The Celestial Spirit Mage grimaced, and I could feel her arm tighten from where she was keeping us held together. "But this isn't about me! This is about my friends, and the people in Magnolia!"

Her eyes flashed, and Aquarius couldn't seem to look away from her summoner. "So please, even if you won't follow my commands - at least follow your heart and do what's right!"

There was silence among our group, even with the sound of explosions and different Magics being activated among the chaos below, further confused by the colossal impacts being exchanged between the Giant Phantom and Makarov.

Then, Aquarius clicked her teeth. "You're still that annoying brat that read fairy tales all day…" She muttered, turning away from Lucy. "Fine - if only to get some peace and quiet with my _boyfriend_ for a while, I'll play along."

Despite the grumbling tone of voice she used, the Spirit's answer still made Lucy smile. "Thanks, Aquarius."

More grumbling followed, but it lacked any venom or much meaning, so I turned my attention back to the plan. "Alright, everyone get ready - I'm taking us in."

Gray and Juvia both turned to face in front of us as I turned our trajectory from an orbit to a positive parabola, with the lowest point of our journey planned as what served as the back of the massive Shade's neck.

Water began to form a spinning cone in front of us, white light turning the liquid at the peak to a solid point with spiralling ridges, frozen vapour streaming past us as we began to dive. More water began to emerge from Aquarius' urn, flowing forward into the empty space within the cone and spinning tightly, growing a darker shade of blue as more and more liquid packed itself into the space available.

I added my own magical power to the mix, bringing the entire assembly closer together, focussing on a thin pillar of attraction like an arrow along the core of the construct. Water, as a whole, didn't compress very well or very easily - even at the bottom of the Marianas Trench, the water density was barely above what it was at sea level, despite having a much higher pressure.

But little things like the properties of matter were generally rather inconsequential in the face of Magic which could re-arrange the universal principals those properties were based on.

By the time we were halfway along our attack run and finished our preparations, the core of our attack was under enough pressure that it was probably at risk of turning solid thanks to Aquarius and Juvia changing its compressibility and my own providence of pressure in the shape of gravitational force of attraction.

As we kept accelerating toward the back of the Phantom's neck, what was suspended in front of us was effectively a ten-metre long cone of nigh-solid water spinning clockwise in the middle of a larger, lower-density cone of water spinning anticlockwise, the whole thing tipped with a solid ice point.

Since we were moving at multiple times our terminal velocities thanks to the way I was playing with our relative gravities, that made for one hell of a threat.

As we descended, my magical sense - which had been focussed on Lucy to the exclusion of all else - registered something new, drawing some of my attention.

Lucy's magical resonance was linked to Aquarius' - like starlight on the ocean. Aquarius in turn melded with Juvia's magic in way that reminded me almost of oil and water - incredibly similar, but obviously disparate. And Juvia flowed around Gray's signature like an arctic current might part around an iceberg.

The flow of magical power was almost like a circuit - but it was missing a component.

Even though my magical power was in the mix, it wasn't connected back to me; it was held at arm's length, kept separate and aloof, like the umbrella in a fruit cocktail. Technically, I was part of the whole - but I was the odd one out.

Without my addition the circuit was incomplete - it was sparking, wasting power as it drained into the ether, looking for a connection that wasn't there.

' _I have to reach out - I'm holding them back; breaking the circuit. Like this, we might not even pierce that thing's shell!'_

I tried to reach out with the part of me that wasn't quite mind or body, tentatively seeking for a loose end - a handhold, something to latch on to. But even as I found it, I held back.

' _What will happen if I do this?'_ I asked myself. ' _What if I can't hold it? What if the others don't realise what's going and I startle them? I could ruin the attack - I could even make Jose notice us.'_

Doubts circled, and I went to pull back from the circuit, to just focus on pushing through as we were -

"Hey."

-Until I was startled into glancing sideways, meeting the familiar cherry-wood brown that had grounded me before.

With a warm smile, Lucy looked across my torso - and I followed her gaze, finding that the hand she was using to anchor herself to me had a faint, sunlight-yellow twinkle playing across the skin.

Looking back to her, she kept smiling. "We're your friends, Declan - don't be afraid to reach out."

And without taking my eyes away, I reached across my body with my left hand, ignoring the pain it brought, and took her hand.

* * *

 _Loke's POV_

Far below the five-man squadron preparing for their bombing run, things on Fairy Tail's beachfront were a bit less composed.

Loke grabbed Cana around the waist and leapt backwards, both their movements aided by a thrown card producing a blast of wind, and barely managed to get out of the reach of the colossal fist that landed where they had stood moments before.

The disguised Celestial Spirit lunged forward into the crater that had been left behind only moments after the first had risen once again, lashing out at the forming shadows left behind in the impressions of fingers.

The Light Magic that his ring produced, fed by his own dwindling magical power and boosting the effect beyond what he could accomplish in his weakened state, tore through the Shades easily, leaving him free to swing with wild abandon, leaving dispersing clouds of purple in his wake.

When he was satisfied he'd cleared the point of impact, the leonine man turned back to the ongoing wrestling match taking place above him, scanning for somewhere he could make a difference.

"Loke!"

Glancing back, the playboy found himself facing one of the Guild's other three gingers, Jet. His coat had seen much better days, while his hat had been lost somewhere along the way - but the High-Speed Magic user was still moving, even with how exhausted he looked.

"Jet." He acknowledged, keeping on eye on the area around them in case a fist or laser headed their way. "What d'you need?"

"Levy has an idea for something we can do to hurt that thing," Jet replied. "But she thinks it'll work best with your Magic."

Loke considered for a moment - but he'd known Levy long enough to trust any hunch she might have or any guess she might make above most other sources of information. "Alright - what do you need me to do?"

In answer, the speedster motioned for him to follow before tearing off across the pockmarked battlefield. Loke followed after, sparing glances all around as he went.

Two dragons - one blue, with long whiskers and small arms, the other obviously wooden with horns sweeping back from its head and sturdier limbs - had made their way into the water and were harassing the Shade's legs, sinking teeth into the magical shell surrounding it and trying to rip parts away with mild success.

A heavy cloud of smoke had risen to surround the Shade's head in an effort to suppress its sight, while purple tongues of flame lanced out from ground level, impacting on the giant's skin and dancing for a moment before they were snuffed out - none yet having found purchase.

Nab was beating down the Shades emerging from the trench left behind by one of the Shade's laser beams, his hands glowing with orange light that formed fascimiles of snarling big-cats - empowered, it seemed, by Vijeeter, whose glowing magic reached across the ground to every Mage in his vicinity as he kept dancing.

Most of the strikes being launched by Fairy Tail came from the trio of Bisca, Alzack and Max; the first two were launching a constant barrage of magical bullets, mostly explosive but with elemental rounds and other tricks mixed in, while the latter was raising sand from the beach, from the water and even from the earth behind him to launch razor-sharp cutting edges up at the Shade, though to what effect was unclear.

" _Incoming laser - Vijeeter, Nab, split!"_

The two Mages named did as they were instructed - and not a moment too soon, as a lance of malignant purple light consumed the area where they had been standing and sliced down toward the water like a blade, leaving behind fused glass, steam and a dark residue that began to coalesce into more Shade soldiers.

Loke took a moment to be glad that Warren was keeping an eye on everyone, then turned his attention to Shadow Gear as he caught up with Jet.

Levy had just finished doing something with what seemed like two of Bisca's magazines, handing them over to Droy as soon as she was done, cueing the Plant Mage to take off running toward the Guild's artillery.

The blunette, who was looking distinctly frazzled and more than a bit exhausted, managed a smile when the disguised Leo approached. "Loke, good to see you."

The ginger nodded, and Levy didn't waste any more time, raising her Light Pen from where it had been resting in her hand. "Your Magic is particularly effective against the Shades because it's diametrically opposed," she began explaining, rushing through the words. "Like fire and ice, your Magic burns away the Shades. But, I think I can make it more effective."

"Sounds good." Loke replied. "What do you need from me?"

"Just your ring."

Handing the object over, the disguised Celestial Spirit watched with interest as the blunette's hand blurred, leaving behind perfect calligraphy around the edges of the mass-produced magic ring. When she ran out of space having wrapped text around the outer edge _twice_ , she handed the item back.

Re-donning the ring, Loke raised it to his face, seeing the words which had been joined to one another in a never-ending circle of carefully printed letters.

' _Purify, Enlighten, Clear.'_

"Those Magic Words should make your Light Magic much more effective against those Shades." The Solid Script user told him, before she turned back to the battle.

For a moment, she flinched - Loke could see the way she almost instinctively began to draw back and turn her face away. Then, she caught the motion and halted it - firming her jaw, she ran forward, pen still in hand, drawing through the air as she went. " **Fire!"**

The letters raced away from her, splashing against the massive Shade's magical shell and dispersing there - but Levy kept running, heading toward Reedus and Laki. Her Magic should be able to complement their conjurations, make them more effective.

Behind her, Loke watched for a moment, before tightening his fist. He might not have all that much magical power left in him...but with even Levy forcing herself to fight, he couldn't hold anything back.

"Jet!" He called, catching the Mage's attention. "Give me a boost, will ya!"

His fellow ginger nodded, and the two set off running down the beach. As they drew closer to the water, High-Speed Magic began glowing green around Jet's body, and Loke brought his hand around to tap his ring, activating the spell embedded in it.

The disguised Leo leapt into the air, coming back down to find his feet landed in Jet's cupped hands - which abruptly spun thrice alongside the rest of the Mage's body, building force before he flung Fairy Tail's resident playboy into the air like a caber.

Keeping his ring-hand behind him, Loke fed the spell within it magic, the Lacrima glowing with a green magic circle. " **Twister!"**

The extra boost from the roaring wind that resulted sent him flying higher and faster, and eyes that, while weary and not long for the world, were still sharper than any human's, picked out the point on the massive Shade's upper left arm that would normally be an elbow.

The Celestial Spirit drew back his right hand, gathering magical power - and not just the trickle that was all he had used in so very long, but a _rush_ ; all the strength that had earned him his classification as a Combat Specialist Spirit.

His left hand came around to grip the bicep of his right arm, and he closed his eyes - whispering the words of his own personal prayer. " _ **O Regulus...grant me your strength."**_

Then eyes once hazel opened with a golden hue, and his fist came forward with all the power of the leader of the Twelve Zodiac Spirits. " **REGULUS IMPACT!"**

A new sun rose in the crook of the massive Shade's elbow, the sea below roared and split, and Jose Porla's day took yet another turn down shit creek.

* * *

 _Third Person POV_

A rather considerable number of things happened at once, shortly after a massive surge of golden light blew off one of the Shade's arms.

First, from the depths of the massive construct's stomach, a roar fit to shake the heavens sounded - shortly before a massive, inhuman figure erupted from within the purple shell, the caustic magic flowing off it like water off a duck's back.

It was massive - easily topping nine feet in height, with a shoulder width closer to four or five feet. Its arms were long like some simians, but were as incredibly muscled as the rest of the body, with biceps that could have been mistaken for bowling balls. Its legs were just as massive, though concealed from the waist to the ankle by tattered dark-blue trousers, while the feet below were scaled and yellow, bearing five sharp talons on the avian toes.

The beast's chest muscles, including the abdominals and the pectorals, were a light shade of green - but apart from that area and its face, the rest of its upper body was covered in thick maroon fur, set far apart from the mane of white hair that erupted from the back of its head and fell down its back, also forming a beard around the lower edges of the creature's face.

Two massive spikes, the same yellow as the scaled feet, protruded from its shoulders pointed upward - while two longer, thinner horns formed a crown atop its head, protruding from the brow before carrying on up, slowly curling backward until the tips were in line with the base below.

Purple eyes glowed from beneath the horned yellow brow, with a prominent scar over the right eye.

As it emerged, it bellowed in a voice like thunder.

" **A TRUE MAN WILL NEVER SUBMIT TO SOMEONE THEY DON'T RESPECT!"**

As Elfman's now-perfected Beast Soul Take-Over tore a not inconsiderable hole in the massive construct's belly, a magical circuit was completed in the air above the Shade, and five wills became one.

""""" **UNISON RAID: HEARTSEEKER STRIKE!"""""**

Several metric tonnes of water and ice moving at speeds usually associated with military-grade weapons collided with the point on the Shade's back that, on a human, would serve as the join between spine and skull - an icy drill-bit tore aside the magical protection there, just as the high-speed rotations of the water below ground away the building itself, tearing a hole through the body to explode in a torrent out the front of the body at around the position of the heart.

While the five progenitors of the strike were diving toward the waters below, chasing after a flagging magical signature, Makarov Dreyar took full advantage of the openings he had received.

Dropping his opponent's momentarily unresponsive arms, dozens of intricate magical circles burst to life around his hands - formulae only he and a few others could understand wound around one another and intertwined, following along with his fists as he drove them forward and sending coruscating shockwaves of glowing magical energy across the Shade's surface and deep into its interior, shaking it apart from within even as it was burned from without.

Seeing the opportunity for what it was, each Fairy Tail Mage on the beach gathered their magic and let fly - a hail of bullets and cards, accompanied by a roiling column of purple flames and smoke while wooden javelins wrapped in living plants soared alongside flaming cannonballs. Abrasive blades of sand and glowing letters chased after them, slamming home in turn amid the chaos of Makarov's barrage of strikes, causing yet more damage.

* * *

Jose Porla watched it all occur with the kind of detached resignation that not many would expect from a man like him.

Even with the power of more than two hundred Mages, including three of his own S-Class Mages (even if two of them were unconscious and one of them had tired himself considerably being a one-man army) he had failed to subdue the Fairy Tail trash.

The massive Shade that he had made from the Giant Phantom Mk. II, it turned out, wasn't very well suited to the purpose he'd put it to; if he'd gone one-on-one with Makarov, he would have had an advantage...but instead, he'd had to deal with the hornet's nest which composed all the other trash in that Guild.

Losing the arm would have been a major blow requiring a lot of energy to undo - the destruction of several systems intrinsic to the Giant Phantom when one of the Fairy Tail Mages inside the machine managed to somehow break free of the horrific illusions and insanity-inducing pain that should have accompanied the wave of Jose's magic that had passed through the building would have required even more.

But when a watery projectile pierced from the back of the construct's neck all the way through to its heart, he knew that there wasn't going to be any coming back from the series of crippling blows - it had been too much, too quickly.

He lost control of the Giant Phantom as Makarov began beating it to a pulp, disrupting both his spell and the mechanical workings of the device at the same time, and chose to begin drawing his magic back into himself.

It had been a mistake to make himself such a massive target when so many of his pawns had been unavailable - he saw that, now. Still, he had access to more than thrice his usual reserves, by his reckoning - facing Fairy Tail as he was, when they had already wasted their best shots, should be within his capabilities.

He was just rising from his seat in the Giant Phantom's head-based control centre when he felt a reverberation through the floor - not just another shock from Makarov's beating, but something else.

Paying it more attention, the Wizard Saint blinked. He could hear fire, the grinding screech of metal-on-metal, and the by now _far_ too familiar sound of walls being broken down.

Suddenly getting a sinking feeling, Jose began counting off the Mages whose magical power he had drained.

His counting was interrupted, however, by his floor exploding in a column of fire.

Phantom Lord's Guild Master was knocked backward over his seat as fire filled the room, the inferno resounding with the sound of flesh-on-steel. What systems had remained somewhat functional sparked and exploded, adding to the chaos, as a pink-haired figure in clothes that had seen _much_ better days flew past and crashed bodily into the heavily-reinforced glass screen at the front of the room.

Sliding down to the ground, the figure groggily shook its head before rolling to its feet, baring sharp teeth and issuing a yell before charging back into the dispersing flames, meeting its counterpart coming the other way.

A rapid-fire sequence of impacts followed as Natsu Dragneel and Gajeel Redfox exchanged blows at a speed that defied the human eye's ability to process, both eventually sliding backwards across the floor.

Natsu had blood seeping from dozens of cuts over his body, his waistcoat in tatters, his baggy trousers ripped, and his usual black waist-wrap not much better. Gajeel's scales were shattered all over, showing bruising skin and bloody abrasions beneath, while his top had been destroyed completely at some point leaving only his trousers and the lower part of his coat remaining.

Each was breathing heavily, barely up for the count, holding on through sheer stubbornness and a burning desire to _win._

The two Dragon Slayers stared at one another for a long moment, then seemed to reach a consensus.

They began to stand straight once more, even as Jose got his head back in gear.

' _Tch - I should have known it was those two wreaking havoc! Well, if Gajeel can't be trusted to follow my orders any more, then I'll have to teach him his place once more!'_

Shade Magic began to gather - in amounts that would give even Makarov pause in a one-on-one match, the malevolent purple light began to form barely-recognisable ghost shapes as Jose's form vanished behind the glow.

He raised his hands to blast both Dragon Slayers - and at the moment he was about to unleash his power, he heard two cries that concluded the worst day in the history of his life.

" **FIRE-DRAGON'S-!" / "IRON-DRAGON'S-!"**

Jose Porla watched the two Dragon Slayers take deep breaths in, and let out a mental sigh. ' _I should have just run away to the circus like Dad.'_

"" **ROAR!""**

* * *

The head of the Giant Phantom Mk. II exploded in a massive conflagration of light, heat and steel shards - and in the aftermath it left two exhausted Dragon Slayers lying flat on their faces, barely able to move, and an out-cold Jose Porla who, when he woke up in prison, would simply take solace in the fact that at least there he would never have to see another Fairy Tail Mage in his lifetime.

* * *

 **Author's Note (PSIness11 is here as well!)**

 **I bring you the Fairy Tail curb-stomp, written to the tune of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Op. 49.**

 **(PSIness11): I would have picked Juno Reactor's Navras but that's just me.**

 **(PSIness11): Teninshigen is a large believer in Raid Bosses, as am I.**

 **So, here we are again - it's always such a pleasure. I have no doubt that the thing most people will find odd/unappealing about this chapter is the way I played up Jose and his Magic...only to then make it completely irrelevant.**

 **So, before I'm put in front of the firing squad, I'll explain:**

 **Much as Declan noted, this story is going to be Fairy Tail seen through the eyes of someone (me) who spends far too much time and effort thinking about all the possible uses of various kinds of supernatural ability. I consider all the possibilities I can think of for the abilities I see displayed - not just for those on the side of the angels, but also by the antagonists.**

 **I wondered** _ **why**_ **Jose would be considered a Wizard Saint, one of Fiore's most powerful Mages, and found a possibility - a way to make him the threat he was made out to be.**

 **(PSIness11): It's got to be the eyeliner.**

 **It just so happens that Fairy Tail as an ensemble are** _ **too fucking powerful**_ **for any single threat to prove their downfall.**

 **If the Element Four were all utilised effectively - Hell, as was seen in the** _ **manga**_ **\- Phantom Lord could be a force to be reckoned with. But, even with its combined firepower funneled into Jose, the circumstances were all against him.**

 **I saw a chance to make Jose more powerful, yes - but I** _ **didn't**_ **see a chance in hell of that actually** _ **making a difference.**_

 **Explanation ends here; just don't think this will be the last time that a villain gains a level in badass - or that it will always have such a seemingly limited impact.**

 **(PSIness11): Jose wouldn't have stood a chance even if he was backed by an actual guild, rather than 5 S-class wizards and an army of mooks.**

 **Anyway, that's the battle done - next chapter is on to the aftermath and the rebuilding.**

 **(PSIness11): Declan/Lucy needs to get going, and soon.**

 **Now, for the** **Reviews:**

 **-Infernus est in animo, I've heard of Shimoneta and even seen clips of it, despite not watching the show itself - and all I can say is that now I'm laughing too.**

 **(PSIness11): Seen it Infernus, I enjoy it. Juvia and Anna are very similar.**

 **-GingerFury, Well, that was Niflheim - and so far as Droy is concerned...well, I have all of fiction to draw on. There are some...** _ **interesting**_ **flora to be explored out there ;)**

 **(PSIness11): *Cough Cough* This Bites reference. *Cough Cough*.**

 **-Keelan1210, Glad to know that people are enjoying my attempts at humour.**

 **(PSIness11): He is funny sometimes.** _ **SOMETIMES**_ **.**

 **-InTheDarkestHowers, I'm always glad to earn the approval of another writer. Even if you don't have much confidence in your own work, practice makes perfect; with time, your skills will develop. I hope you continue to grow just as you continue to enjoy the story :)**

 **(PSIness11): SI/OCs can accomplish many things that a normal fanfiction can't, and I'll make sure to force Teninshigen to look at your story!**

 **-Warlord of Chaos, I'm nowhere near done with the JoJo in this story -** _ **I REJECT MY FIC ARCHIVE, FANFIC! I WILL TRANSCEND THE CROSSOVER BARRIER!**_

 **(PSIness11): Speaking of crossover, Speeding Through Life / Music of the Spheres? ANYBODY?**

 **-Blake Tourdner, Funny you should say that - Declan** _ **will**_ **pick up Requip along the line...though, maybe not for quite the reason you'd expect…**

 **(PSIness11): Trust me, it's not what I thought either.**

 **-The Ultimate Balance Chaos, Ominous indeed - though the bell tolled for Jose...this time…**

 **-Zeru'Xil, Trust me, I know** _ **quite**_ **a lot about gravity and black holes by now - I've already figured out how to tie the universe in notes without technically breaking any of its rules. You'll just have to wait and see for the shenanigans to follow, though :)**

 **(PSIness11): Teninshigen will quite literally cut me off when I am talking about Fairy Tail to science the shit out of me.**

 **-HelpfulNudge, It's understandable that you wouldn't know - after all, Music is a far cry from Gloria in pretty much every way. Still, glad to know you enjoy this story too :)**

 **(PSIness11): I haven't seen RWBY.**

 **-Drunkle Qrow, Did I really take that long to update? 0.0 Man, I'm almost glad I have someone keeping on my back about writing now.** _ **Almost.**_

 **(PSIness11): I have threatened him with bodily harm if he didn't write more of Music.**

 **-'Guest', Ch. 16, Jul 21 - There shall be JoJo - but Echoes Act 3 was just too obvious. No, what I have in mind is a bit more...** _ **Bizarre.**_

 **(PSIness11): Yes it is what you think it is.**

 **-Blaze1992, Well, Gray's been waiting for his chance to...eh…'spar'...with Declan since Galuna Island - holding back won't be much of an option in the future. I hope that the crazy level was high enough for ya ;)**

 **(PSIness11): Declan is very strong.**

 **-Blacksword Zero, Thanks!**

 **-Maddragon1, Glad you enjoyed the chapter!**

 **-DullReign82, I'm glad you enjoyed the story - and I'm also glad I managed to re-kindle your enjoyment of Fairy Tail itself; even with all the fanservice, I still enjoy it a hell of a lot.**

 **(PSIness11): I will force him to give you fanservice should you desire it.**

 **-shamwoohoo52, That's a pretty good summarisation of gravity, if missing one or two little points that are more like technical details...though those are details I'm going to exploit** _ **maliciously**_ **in this story. Also, I took your recommendation and started reading One Foot. I'm not sure if I spent more time cringing or laughing my lungs up, but either way, I can only have one reaction.**

' **Holy** _ **shit**_ **, what the fuck did I just read?'**

 **(PSIness11): He's been playing the Witcher 3, don't listen to his lies.**

 **-'Ibn', Ch. 16, Jul 21 - It's in the spirit of Fairy Tail to keep fighting no matter what state you're in - 'tis only a flesh wound, after all. Glad you enjoyed Juvia vision; expect that joke to run long...long...** _ **long**_ **into the future. As my sanity runs ever shorter. (Seriously, pray for me, trying to get into Juvia's head can** _ **not**_ **be healthy)**

 **(PSIness11): It's not, as a fan of Juvia as a character and love intrest in my own story… Let's just say that if you want to truly write for Juvia, you will not leave without being damaged. Emotionally and Mentally.**

 **-'Finalguardian', Ch. 16, Jul. 23 - I'm glad to hear that the people who enjoyed Gloria can continue to find enjoyment in my other work; I'm flattered that you'd spend your early morning reading my work, but make sure not to go and do yourself harm. As someone who doesn't get much sleep themselves, I can commiserate.**

 **(PSIness11): Making Teninshigen write might be hazardous to his health, but you will get Music chapters much faster with me on the case.**

 **-ParkerThomas, Thank you very much for the praise - I'm glad to hear that Declan fits well into the setting. As I'm attempting to steer somewhere between 'Cross vs Eneru' and 'Every-Generic-Gary-Stu', knowing that I haven't fallen off the wagon somewhere is a good boost to my confidence. I hope you keep enjoying the story!**

 **(PSIness11): Cross is the Jesus of self inserts, with The Cross brain being God… Luffy is the holy spirit.**

 **-'James', Ch. 16, Jul. 27 - Declan's…'talent',** _ **does**_ **have to do with his ability to sense magic. But for exactly why, you'll just have to keep on reading ;)**

 **(PSIness11): I could tell you, but I won't.**

 **-Grubkiller13579, If those fights still happen as they did in canon (I have a few ideas that could really mess with how a** _ **lot**_ **of the scattered fights throughout Fairy Tail are distributed), then suffice to say that** _ **oh yes**_ **\- there are** _ **plans.**_ **As far as Declan's abilities go, I've mentioned in previous answers to reviews and even an author's note, I believe, that Declan** _ **will**_ **gain the ability to create Black Holes in the future. But, being a physicist, he's appropriately scared shitless of them and won't make one without safety measures out the ass or a** _ **damn good reason.**_

 **(PSIness11): Declan vs Bluenote will be epic.**

 **-'king gilgamesh', Ch. 16, Jul. 28 - Well...that's your opinion and you're entitled to it. My explanation is in the author's note above, so I suppose it's up to you whether you find it satisfactory.**

 **(PSIness11): I think Jose is held back by his mental state, rather than his Magical Power.**

 **-blackshadow340, Wish granted!**

 **(PSIness11): I will continue to force him to update faster.**

 **End of Reviews**

 **And now** _ **that's**_ **done with, it's back to Velen to continue burning everything I see to the** _ **fucking ground.**_

 ***Cue** **Miracle of Sound - Silver and Steel** *****

 **C'mon, Roach!** _ **Yah!**_

* * *

 **(PSIness11): What a chapter! You're sure good at focusing on many POVs at the same time.**

 **Well, even if I don't give voices to the nameless/faceless characters that inhabit the Guild, there's a fairly large cast of tertiary characters; in a fight where** _ **all of them**_ **are involved, it's either** _ **get**_ **good or drown.**

 **(PSIness11): Very good point. Hey, I'm sure many people are wondering about how Declan will react when his knowledge runs out. Any hints you'd be willing to provide?**

 **Hm. Well, Declan's knowledge will run out after the Fantasia Parade, by which time hopefully everyone will have a grasp on his character. He's not going to undergo a massive change when he passes that point - he's already a fairly cautious, logical person. Of course, that's not to say it'll be so easy for him to keep his composure…**

 **(PSIness11): Right, the Grand Magic Games is sure to be an interesting arc… But the most anticipated thing for me is the Edolas arc, what's** _ **that**_ **gonna be like for Declan? Will he have a counterpart?**

 **...Wow, you're not even** _ **trying**_ **to be subtle, are you?**

 **(PSIness11): It's almost like Declan would need a fundamentally different character to contrast with... But with similar names...**

 ***SNEEZE***

 **(PSIness11): This man scared the shit out of me in our Discord call, bitch just sneezed out of** _ **nowhere.**_

 **Yeah yeah, laugh it up Mr 'I-Deep-Throat-The-Mic-At-Two-In-The-Morning'.**

 **(PSIness11): Excuse me, that's** _ **Dr**_ ' **I-Deep-Throat-The-Mic-At-Two-In-The-Morning'.**

 **...Fuck it, I give up. See ya next time folks, assuming I haven't been driven into the ground by my new personal slave driver.**

 **(PSIness11): Your fans will love me for it.**


	18. XVII - Étoile Vieux

There is no sensation or experience I can think of which comes close to what occurs during a Unison Raid.

The moment I took Lucy's hand and became part of the circuit, the edges of my magic became indistinguishable from those of the others'; there weren't so much five distinct presences in our group as there was one driving force, a chorus acting as one. The same determination was at the forefront of each of our minds, the same will to protect powered our strike as we fell.

For the seconds that passed while we maintained the technique, all of us were completely open - completely understood by the others in the group. It wasn't like we had all just gone into a mind-meld or anything - the others' memories didn't pass in front of my eyes, I couldn't read their thoughts as they passed. But the emotional state, all the feelings that were suffusing the magic we had pooled - _those_ were too obvious to miss.

Simultaneously, it was the most freeing experience I could conceive of - and the most utterly terrifying.

Experiencing it, I recalled my earlier years in school - back when being that weird quiet kid who uses big words before he's been taught them meant that I was strange, that I should be avoided. I always found that sticks and stones were easier to deal with than words; bruises faded - but every person who turned away made me a little less willing to try and connect again.

By the time highschool came around I was set in my ways. Stay quiet, stay unobserved; just keep working and fade into the background where there's peace.

Of course, I didn't expect to find someone else blending into that same silence.

Heather Noble. A month my junior, though you'd think it was more if we were standing side-by-side. She had just been sitting at a table in the library, away from the area where all the other students who entered went; avoiding all the noise and disruption that happened there (because for some people, the idea of 'silence in the library' was too advanced to process).

That first day, I sat at the opposite end of the table and settled in to get my homework out of the way so I could keep reading. We didn't speak or even glance at one another until we were leaving the library at the break's end, when we just nodded before we headed off to our classes.

We noticed one another a bit more after that; we weren't in the same class groupings, so it was generally in the hallways - but whenever we both entered the library, we'd settle down in the quiet area and nod to one another before going about our work.

A week after we first took those seats, we introduced ourselves - and shaking her hand, seeing the smile she gave me, gave a part of me I'd long disregarded something to latch on to.

Unison Raid was like that first moment of contact - an unending hope for a greater connection, for being part of a larger whole, sustained even as that need was fulfilled.

I couldn't decide if I wanted it to go on forever or if I wanted to break it off on the spot - and I still hadn't made my decision when we loosed our strike through the back of the Shade's neck and started climbing once more.

* * *

 _We'd barely gained ten metres when our attention was caught by something below. Turning our attention to it, it was a vague, flickering magical signature; sputtering like a candle in the wind and falling toward the water below._

 _We changed course to intercept - diving down behind the war-machine's back as Master Makarov started laying into it, swooping toward the green jacket against the blue water._

 _We caught the pale, slightly shaky Loke several metres above the waves - and surprisingly enough, it was Aquarius who deigned to catch the playboy under the arms with one of her own arms, dragging him along with us as we came down for a landing on the beach._

 _We skidded a bit in the sand, stumbling as we moved forward - then I released the magic which had been holding us aloft, and the chorus became individuals once again as the circuit collapsed-_

* * *

I took a deep breath as the connections dropped, feeling a shaking in my own movements and hearing my heartbeat thudding in my ears. I wasn't sure if it was excitement, fear or something else - but one way or another, it wasn't going to be a help, so it was ignored.

Gray and Juvia were both placed on their feet in the seconds after we landed, the two quickly straightening once they weren't going to fall over.

Gray was standing under his own power, though he looked pretty bad - covered in mottled bruising and abrasions, with most of his skin lobster-red with scalding burns. Still, his magic should help with those, so he'd probably be okay.

Juvia looked none the worse for wear - and it seemed that the Unison Raid had managed to knock her out of her tunnel vision...for the moment, anyway.

Lucy...still had her arm around her waist, and was blinking rapidly as she leaned slightly on me. Her eyes, when they were open, were open _wide_ \- and as she looked down the line of our group, she seemed to switch between looking at me and looking at Loke.

' _..._ Ah _\- both Aquarius and I were connected to her when we caught Loke...yeah, there's no way she didn't just figure out_ what _he is, even if not_ who _he is.'_

I shook myself a little, trying to relax my muscles. The motion reminded me to release Lucy's hand, still held in mine where it was wrapped around me, and I managed to get the appendage to listen to me after a moment.

Still, no sooner had I made the effort to stand on my own than I almost collapsed sideways, my right leg almost giving out on me as I put weight on it.

I stayed level with a muttered curse and a quick application of magic to leave me near weightless, huffing out a breath as I felt the aching that was starting to creep over my body. On the bright side, I didn't seem to have destroyed the stasis bandages keeping me functioning, so there was that.

While we four humans were getting ourselves back in order, Aquarius and Loke were just beside us - the former holding the latter aloft as the ginger's eyes opened behind his sunglasses.

"Oh...hey there, Aquarius…"

The mermaid looked down at the leonine man, her face inscrutable. "So, this is where you've been for the last three years?"

All we humans' attention had gone to the two Celestial Spirits when they began speaking, and stayed there as the two continued.

"Yeah…" Loke nodded - or, at least, tried. "Figured I'd do some good with the time I had left."

Aquarius' eyes sharpened, her brow furrowing as she shook her disguised compatriot in the air. "Don't go all self-deprecating on me, you dumbass! Do you know how long Aries has been crying?! She's convinced herself that you're dead already - that it's her fault!"

Loke blanched, but beyond that just let out a long sigh. "Sorry...I wish I could have said goodbye to her…"

If anything, his response only seemed to make the mermaid angrier. "You shouldn't be apologising to me you bastard, you should be saying it to _her!"_

A wan smile which barely qualified as an example of the expression formed on Loke's face. "You're right," he told her. "I should.

"But that can't happen." He shrugged. "This is my fate, Aquarius - I've been resigned to it for three years now." Hazel eyes met ocean blue, and a truer smile tugged at Leo's lips. "Still...I'm glad I got to see at least one of you again before I go."

Aquarius just kept staring at Loke for several long seconds, then grimaced, dropping him to the sand without ceremony. "You turned into a moody emo…" She muttered, turning away. "I guess Aries was right - the person she knew _did_ die three years ago."

Sitting in the sand, a pained grimace crossed Loke's face - but he said nothing.

Aquarius turned to Lucy. "I'm going back home." She informed her, brooking no argument. "I need to spend some time with my boyfriend, so don't you dare call me for a couple of weeks."

And with that, she dissolved into golden particles and blew away on the wind...all while Loke watched with an expression caught between bone-deep resignation and a rapturous longing.

There was silence for several seconds. Loke dropped his head to look at the sand, while Gray and Lucy were both staring at Loke; with disbelief and a kind of dawning horror, respectively.

Juvia didn't have the context to know what was going on, and was looking confusedly back and forth between Gray and Loke - probably trying to figure out why her newly-discovered lord and saviour was so stupefied.

I myself raised my right arm to my face and sighed into it. ' _Well, that's torn the Loke arc. Could be worse, I guess…'_

Then I looked more closely at the Celestial Spirit - and in turn, saw the grains of sand beneath his hands.

 _Through_ his hands.

' _Me and my big_ fucking _mouth.'_

I stepped forward, breaking the silent spell as I looked down at Loke - Leo, or whichever he was at the moment. "Well, I guess that cat's out of the bag."

I paused - _everyone_ paused, and I groaned internally even as Leo turned an incredulous look on me. " _Really?"_

I sighed. "Yeah, sorry about that…" Shaking my head, I focussed on the task at hand. "Well, I guess that makes you Leo, right?"

The ginger blinked a couple of times, then nodded - he probably figured it didn't matter, what with having a lifespan measured in minutes.

Well, not on my watch. I'd fucked this up, I'd un-fuck it too.

"The Celestial Spirit Leo - last known contractor Karen Lilica of Blue Pegasus. Disappeared from circulation three years ago a short time prior to the death of said contractor."

Leo's expression turned incredulous once again - which meant he _wasn't_ focussed on Lucy behind me, who I knew was listening closely.

"With three years in the human world you're close to dead, which explains Aquarius being angry with you." I continued, despite Leo flinching. "But the important bit is the other person she mentioned - Celestial Spirit Aries, last known contractor _also_ Karen Lilica. The Ram Spirit, characterised as having a passive nature and a tendency towards a supporting role."

I lowered myself down to the sand - or rather, I tried, then remembered I couldn't bend my middle and gave up, just putting my legs forward and letting what weight I still possessed drag me down to the ground. "Said Spirit is apparently convinced that you're dead and that the blame for it lies with her - even though Celestial Spirits, if killed, should re-constitute themselves in the Celestial Spirit World night-instantly."

I blew out a breath, idly wishing I had some glasses so I could push them up on my face. "The logical conclusion is that you, in some way, chose to perform an action for Aries that would lead her to believe you permanently dead; and for a Celestial Spirit, that would require that you remain in the human world until you vanished.

"The vast majority of Celestial Spirit Mages are capable of opening only one Gate at a time; for you to stay in the human world long enough to be thought dead would mean that, for that same length of time, your contractor would be unable to summon any other Spirits.

"In other words," I finished, "you purposely prevented your fellow Celestial Spirit from being summoned by Karen Lilica - and as a result, your contractor got herself killed."

I brought my left hand up to point at Loke, index finger forward and the rest curled in. "Your next line is, 'How the Hell do you know that?'."

"How the Hell do you _know_ that?!"

I took a few seconds to take in the incomprehension writ large all over Leo's face, then chuckled to myself as I brought my hand back to lean on, my shoulder twinging but not giving out under my reduced weight. "It was elementary, dear Leo." I replied, before the levity drained from my face. "So, your contractor died. Took a mission without the ability to summon Spirits, I take it?"

The ginger kept staring at me for several moments, getting his thoughts back in order, before he finally shook his head and grunted. "Yeah. Karen was always stubborn...it'd be just like her to charge ahead on a job anyway."

' _Darwin at his finest; and it couldn't have happened to a nicer girl.'_

"Stubborn's one word for that kind of person." I agreed. "Of course, 'head-up-ass conceited' can be a good description too."

The Spirit turned a glare my way, and I shrugged. "You're the one who decided that an _immortal Celestial Spirit_ needed to be protected from that woman," I reminded him. "I'm taking my cues from you. If you can tell me that she was honestly the kind of person I'd have shed a tear for, I'll show respect."

No answer. "I figured."

"Karen might not have been a good person," Leo acknowledged, "but she wasn't _evil._ She was arrogant, and narcissistic, and she didn't put much worth in others...but she _didn't deserve to die!"_

I grunted. "But because she got herself killed, you _do?"_

Ah, the glare was back. "Don't you say that it's the same thing!" Leo growled. "It was _my_ choice that got her killed - it was _my_ call! I made it, I deal with the consequences!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Putting it that way, wouldn't it mean you _knew_ what was going to happen when you made that decision?"

When Leo just looked confused, I elaborated. "You say it was the consequences of your call; well then, if it was _only_ your decision that got her killed, then either you're saying Karen had no control over her own actions - or you're acknowledging that you knew exactly what she would do when you made your decision."

There was still confusion on his face, so I pressed the point. "I'm asking a question, Leo - when you chose to keep your Gate open and protect Aries from your summoner, did you or did you not know that she would get herself killed?"

Leo stared at me for a few moments more, comprehension dawning, before a mixture of rage and disgust flooded his features. " _How can you even ask that?!"_ He demanded, shooting to his feet again - and glancing at his hands, I could see some solidity return in his rage. " _She was my contractor! Even with what she did…I could never have wished her dead! If I had known what she would do-"_

"Then you would have abandoned your friend to whatever fate awaited her?" I interrupted. "You would have chosen to uphold the contract you forged over the bond of friendship you held with your fellow Spirit?"

It was at that point that I got kicked in the face by a Celestial Spirit for the first time in my life.

Thankfully, despite the fact that I had just been field-goal punted by the leader of the Zodiac Spirits, said leader had one foot in the grave and the other in quicksand, so it didn't rip my head clean off. That said, it _did_ lift me from my seat and back half a metre to crash down in the sand once again, laid out on my back with a throbbing jaw.

' _Keikaku...doori...fuck that hurt…'_

" _Like Hell I'd have done that you bastard!"_ The enraged Spirit yelled, stomping after me across the beach - maybe missing that I waved off Lucy and Gray when they moved to step forward, maybe not, but advancing all the same.

I rose to my feet like something from a vampire movie - still lying flat as a board, but rotating forward until the soles of my feet were on the ground and I was vertical once more. I met Leo's eyes, both of us being around the same height, and held my ground as he came within arm's length.

" _I'd have taken her Key and left!"_ He declared, his voice shifting a bit - in the same way that Natsu's voice sometimes shifted into a more sibilant register, there was a rumbling growl behind Leo's words that reminded the listener of a very simple fact.

No matter what he looked like, I was standing right in front of an immortal Celestial Spirit with millennia of combat experience and a will strong enough to survive three years in an environment which should have killed him in a week. He was close to human - but there were _differences._

It didn't stop me from keeping eye contact, though.

" _I'd have hidden Aries' Key somewhere Karen could never have found it and taken on her anger myself! I might not have done what I should have three years ago and I might have gotten her killed...but don't you_ fucking dare _say that I would ever have raised a hand to my contractor!"_

I stood in front of the seething Celestial Spirit for several moments more, holding his gaze - then nodded to myself. "That's more like it."

Some confusion permeated the rage which had subsumed Leo's face, and I gestured to him in general with my right hand - my left shoulder had jarred something awful when I landed from the kick and I was still trying to ignore it. "I had wondered whether Leo the Lion really had died already," I explained, "but you're standing right here, so I suppose you've still got time."

Leo snarled, grabbing me by the lapels of my coat and dragging me forward until he was almost headbutting me. "Time for _what?!_ Stop with the _fucking riddles already!"_

I raised an eyebrow again and considered admonishing him for his lack of manners - then I decided I'd had more than enough shit kicked out of me lately and stopped with the fucking riddles already. "Well so long as you're still alive, we can still get you back to the Celestial Spirit World."

The ginger stared at me with a look that gave me a sudden understanding of how it must have felt to be the manipulative Dumbledore when the end of the fanfic comes; a kind of near-comprehension coupled with mind-stopping fury was being directed right at me point-blank, and what followed would either be a total heel-face turn into a reasonable explanation for my actions or a curb stomp ending with my face buried six feet below.

It was...quite fun, actually. ' _I'm a terrible person. And the fact that I love it doesn't help.'_

"The responsibility for Karen's death doesn't fall on you." I told him, ignoring the way his expression edged back into anger as I continued. "I won't say otherwise. She forced your hand and you implemented a reasonable plan where the only one hurt should have been yourself - I can relate; it's my kind of plan. Unfortunately, you didn't account for your contractor's desperation, and it ended with her death.

"That's unfortunate." I stated. "Truly unfortunate. I may not care much about a person who I never knew, a person who was, by your account, not a very good person, but I find it unfortunate because it's led you to this point." I gestured once again, thinking he'd probably see it out of the corner of his eye. "You had the willpower to live three years in this world despite it being anathema to you, you stood up for your friend and you didn't give in even when you were pressured by someone you obviously gave a shit about.

"That's damn impressive to me - but seeing that person become so resigned to their fate makes me want to bring back the person they used to be."

I stared into Loke's eyes from barely inches away much as I had done to Gajeel only days before, and I injected all the sincerity I could muster into my words. "Leo the Lion, _you deserve to live."_

I kept up that gaze for a few moments before glancing over his shoulder. "And I'm not the only one who thinks so."

The Celestial Spirit blinked, then let go of my coat to turn around - only to find Gray standing in front of him, glowering. "So you thought you'd just wallow away in misery and die without saying a word, huh?"

The ginger swallowed, not quite meeting the Ice Mage's eyes. "I...well, uh-"

"SAVE IT!" Gray yelled, stomping forward and bringing one fist flying forward. It crashed into Leo's stomach enough to knock him back into me for a moment before he rebounded, and the Spirit leaned forward gasping at the blow after it had been delivered.

"YOU'RE ONE OF US - A MEMBER OF FAIRY TAIL!" Gray continued, glaring down at the Celestial Spirit. "DID YOU JUST FORGET THAT?!"

Leo - _Loke_ looked up, and was dragged properly upright by the irate Ice Make Mage grabbing his shoulders. "We're all gonna _talk_ about this later," Gray growled, "but first we're gonna get your dumb ass home so Erza can kill you."

Loke gulped. "Don't you mean kill me later…?"

" _No."_

A full-body shiver ran down the Spirit's body, and it took him a moment to build his courage up again. "But it's impossible for me to go back!" He protested. "My contract was broken by my summoner's death and it was my fault! I broke one of the rules we Celestial Spirits are bound by - it's against the laws we live by for me to return!"

"Rules?"

For the first time since we had touched down, Lucy spoke up - and when she did, she drew all eyes to her.

Her hands were clenched into fists that shook at her sides; her eyes shone with tears that streaked down her face, and it seemed like not even she knew if she was angry or sad.

"Since when have rules mattered to Fairy Tail?!" She demanded, moving forward - damn near shoving Gray out of the way to grab the Celestial Spirit by the lapels much as he had done me. "This Guild...we're meant to go our own way!" She continued, shaking him slightly. "We're supposed to stand by one another and never stop moving forward! I've only been here a little while...but even someone like me knows that!"

Loke stared into Lucy's eyes, and a moment later a tear fell from underneath his glasses, reflecting the light that Lucy had begun to admit.

"If the law of the Celestial Spirit World says that you have to die for something like defending a friend…" She declared, while the golden glow shining on her skin began to resonate with the Keys on her belt and magical power filled the air. " _THEN I'LL CHANGE IT!"_

Loke realised a bit too late what was going on, breaking Lucy's hold on him to try and move her away, to cancel the spell - but he didn't act quickly enough.

" **CLOSE, GATE OF THE LION - LEO!"**

The light which shrouded Lucy flared up and reached a new crescendo - spiralling away from her skin and into the air, engulfing the area around us, enveloping even Gray, Juvia and I. It swirled and danced as it spread like mist, subsuming the world in gold -

But I knew something was wrong.

Looking sharply to Lucy, I could see the sweat beading on her brow; her complexion was paling even as I watched, and I could see her begin to shake not with emotion, but with fatigue.

' _Not enough power,'_ I realised. ' _She's used too much magical power today; she doesn't have enough for this!'_

The various possible outcomes of over-using one's magic - where such things as comatose states and the inability to ever use magic again were getting off _lightly_ \- ran through my mind, and I didn't hesitate to step forward and grab Lucy's shoulder, closing my eyes and focussing on a sensation I had only experienced minutes before.

Fuck being uncomfortable - Lucy needed me right now.

Two magical signatures linked, melded and _clicked_ \- and for the second time, 'I' became 'we' as the Unison Raid was completed.

* * *

 _We continued to pour power into the spell - it was a barely-formed thing, we barely even knew what it was, but instinct guided our actions as we threw ourselves into the course of action that we knew would save our ДЩ_ _ע_ _ζÆ†§-_

 _We stumbled momentarily as conflicting ideas met and danced, and the spell almost crumbled -_

 _But the discord lasted only a moment as the parts conceded to one another and harmony was achieved once more - it would take more than internal divide to stop us from keeping our_ _ **friend**_ _alive._

 _The magic steadied and soared higher, drawing ever more and more from us, the golden light that we could see but also feel swirling tighter and tighter as it began to take on a new form -_

 _And in front of us, we heard the voice of our friend as he gasped. "There's no way…"_

 _We looked up, and we beheld what we had wrought._

 _The figure who had appeared from our summons was gigantic - humanoid though he was, he was taller than any three buildings in Magnolia stopped atop one another. The space between his shoulders seemed enough to build a town._

 _Our attention was first caught by the moustache. It was white and incredibly oversized, long enough to reach his upper torso and nearly exceed the width of his shoulders as it jutted from above his mouth in two diagonals. Settled on the chin beneath it was white stubble, and looking past the facial hair revealed a slightly wrinkled face while his pupil-less eyes were a deep shade of red._

 _He was dressed in a full set of plate armour with spikes at the elbows - done in turquoise at the chest and gold at the waist and knees, while the rest was luminescent white - all over dark chainmail, with a dark, ragged cape that must have had enough fabric to make all Fiore's clothing for a month hanging down his back. His waist was circled by a dark belt with a simple squared buckle that held a wrap of white fabric around his waist and thighs, left open at the front._

 _Atop his head was a helmet with two great, white horns like a bull's, protruding from the temples and feeding back into dark grey metal. Four white tassels, rather like cow's tails, waved atop the helmet - while the forehead was decorated with a golden inverted star, and the helmet itself bore two dark-green, fin-like ornaments which framed his face._

" _The Celestial Spirit King?!" Our friend blurted, staring up at the great shining figure in the sky, sending us reeling._

 _This was_ _ע_ _ЩÆД†§ζ our expectations - we Щ§ÆД_ _ע†_ _ζ expect to summon the Celestial Spirit King himself._

 _Discord shocked the connection again as misaligned thoughts collided, and-_

* * *

I dropped the connection, taking a gasping breath as I released Lucy's shoulder and took a step back, nursing a killer headache that had me rubbing my temples with the fingers of my right hand. Looking over at Lucy, I could see she had raised her own hands to her head - but she wasn't tearing her eyes away from the massive Spirit above us.

This was... _utterly_ unexpected.

I might have had that errant thought about entering this audience back in Everlue's mansion, but that had been nothing more than a passing fantasy - an idle thought to be discarded as ludicrous.

Standing in front of the _Celestial Spirit King_ wasn't part of the plan.

"The _Celestial Spirit King?"_ Lucy asked, her voice going up a couple of octaves as her eye twitched a bit. "You mean...the most powerful Celestial Spirit _of all?"_

Loke, who hadn't even looked so gobsmacked when I JoJo'd him, just nodded absently before managing to gather his wits enough to speak about him. "What are you _doing_ here?!" He asked the Spirit above us, staring up in disbelief.

There was a rumble of thunder - no, wait, that was just the King talking.

" **No matter their circumstances,"** came the voice, which split the heavens and the air to pierce through the world and enter our minds - or that was what it felt like, at least; like the voice of the King bored and barged its way through all in its path to deliver the message. " **I would never ignore an old friend."**

Loke flinched backward visibly, not quite turning away but coming close, and grimaced even as the King continued. " **My old friend...you know the laws as I do. We who forge contracts with humans and pledge oaths on the Keys they bear are forbidden from taking the lives of those who summon them."**

Loke's gaze lowered towards the ground, his fists clenching as the voice kept going. " **It was not by your hand, but it was by your action that your contractor was killed. For this, you may never again be allowed entry to the Celestial Realm."**

"Hey!"

I blinked - then realised that I had clutched my ears with my hands, and thus had almost missed Lucy striding forward toward the King, eyes bright and her arms wide. "Don't you think you're being a bit unreasonable?!" She continued, addressing the King of all Celestial Spirits like some people would talk to the owner of their local grocery store.

Loke looked up to say something - but I reached out and gripped his shoulder with one hand. When he whirled to face me, glaring, I glared right back. "Lucy just came damn close to killing herself for your sake," I hissed, prompting a look of such absolute guilt I almost felt bad for it. "Don't cheapen that resolve - you're getting out of this alive, whether you want to or not."

I turned away from the Spirit to face the greater member of his kind that was floating above us, just in time to hear his reply.

" **King I may be,"** the voice thundered, " **but that law is sacred; I cannot change it."**

"That 'law' shouldn't even apply here!" Lucy yelled back. "Leo has been suffering for _three years_ for Aries' sake! He made a decision to save her, but he couldn't have known what would happen! It was a _mistake!"_

" **That may be,"** the King rumbled, " **and I cannot say that my old friend's plight does not pain me, but-"**

"BUT NOTHING!" Lucy overruled him, somehow managing to out-shout a voice that came with a measure on the Richter scale. "This isn't about an 'old friend' - it's about a friend that's _suffering right in front of you!"_

That line sent a shock of panic through me - with as tired as she was, surely she wouldn't -

Golden light erupted into being around Lucy once again, and I almost smacked myself. ' _Of_ course _she would - it's_ Lucy.'

"Lucy, don't-!" Loke started, trying to stagger forward - I could see him collapse out the corner of my eye, as what strength was keeping him upright failed at the last and sent him crashing to his knees.

But only from the corner of my eye - I was too busy moving past to catch him.

I couldn't initiate another Unison Raid; we'd proven now that it couldn't hold.

But proving a point - _that_ I could do.

I looked up at the Celestial Spirit King, the most powerful being I had ever laid eyes on - and I took a deep breath.

"HEY, TOILET-BRUSH-MOUSTACHE!"

For a moment, it felt like the world - or, at least, the part we were occupying - _stopped._ Beside me, Lucy was shocked clear out of her attempt at summoning her Spirits, and yet still nearly collapsed when the toll she had already placed on herself swept over her. Behind me, I heard Loke choke on thin air and his own spit and took minor pleasure in knowing I had quite possibly just given an immortal creature an aneurysm out of sheer stupidity.

But I'd already pressed the big red button, so I might as well make the most of these last few moments of life.

" **Hm...are you speaking to me?"**

I winced as the 'sound' rolled over me, then pressed on - if I lost what momentum I had now, I doubted even my constituent atoms would be left floating around. "Do those pine trees up your nose have their roots in your ears or something?!" I demanded. "Of course I'm talking to you!"

I _felt_ the glare that was levelled at me from above, and entirely failed to provide the same magnitude of expression in return - but I gave it my level best. "But I wouldn't be surprised it that was true - because _you. Aren't. LISTENING!"_

I looked up to a God, and the God looked down at me - and I heard him. " **Oh, believe me - I am most** _ **definitely**_ **listening."**

I took a deep breath, shot off a quick prayer to Phoenix Wright - then I spoke again.

* * *

 _Lucy's POV_

Lucy had seen a lot of things in the time since she had joined Fairy Tail.

She had seen Dragon Slayers and flying cats that spoke, she had seen myriad and wondrous magics, she had faced down a Dark Guild and she had sat by the bedside of her hospitalised partner.

She had made friends - such genuine friends, people her own age for as much as she loved all the people who had taken care of her in that big, empty house in the countryside - and she had made enemies, she had gained _two_ new Zodiac Keys, and she had been the spark which ignited a Guild War.

But none of that could have prepared her for the sight of her partner - her _rational_ , _sane_ partner - standing in front of the Celestial Spirit King and _insulting him to his face._

"Human beings and Celestial Spirits." Declan spoke up, still holding the King's gaze, still standing tall despite still being in recovery for what Gajeel had done to him. "For all the differences between us, our two species are very similar. We speak the same languages and share biological features, we pursue similar interests and we are diverse in the same ways.

"Of course that doesn't mean we're identical, far from it," he continued, " _but_ \- we are all capable of empathy; we all understand friendship and we all understand love.

"You're treating Loke like he committed a crime; well, then let's look at it this like it was.

"If you, o _King_ , are going to reside up there like a judge, then as the Defense I'm asking you - what constitutes murder? Where does culpability begin and end? At what point does responsibility shift?"

Declan began to pace - a simple line, to his left three steps, turn, go back to his original position and take another three steps, then repeat. His hands went behind his back - something that Lucy knew _must_ have hurt with the state of his shoulder, but she couldn't deny that, coupled with the way that coat of his fluttered in the wind that seemed to blow through their area of the beach from nowhere, she could almost see the courtroom around him.

"The first question I need to ask, is whether the punishment Loke is subjected to is given when a Celestial Spirit _kills_ their contractor - or when they are _responsible for the death_ of their contractor."

There was a long moment of silence, and Lucy could read her partner well enough by now to see the way his shoulders tensed as it stretched out - but settled once more when the deep bass voice of the King sounded out. " **The latter."**

"Clarify!" Declan shot back, going back to pacing after having lost a step. "By 'responsible', you could mean - the Celestial Spirit failed to manifest themselves in time to stop their contractor being killed by surprise; the Celestial Spirit didn't taste-test all their contractor's food and they were poisoned; the Celestial Spirit _couldn't_ defend their contractor due to a lack of strength, and their contractor was killed.

"So, by that letter of your 'law', you state that if a summoner dies in _any way_ that the Celestial Spirit could have prevented, it is their fault?"

" **The letter of the law can only be so detailed."** The King argued back. " **Judgement is made on the spirit of the law."**

Declan turned back towards her, and Lucy could see a glint in his eye - before he spun around to face the King, raised one finger to point at him, and yelled at the top of his lungs. "OBJECTION!"

The massive figure of the King didn't flinch - but Lucy thought she saw a shift of the brow under his helmet that might have indicated a raised eyebrow.

"If you wish to judge by the 'spirit' of the law, then you are not judging based on the law!" Declan continued, stretching out his arms as if to rest them on a table and leaning forward - on _thin air?_

It wasn't too strange when she remembered how he had slept in such a fashion on Galuna Island, but still, seeing him rest his body weight on the air and have it support him almost made it seem like the world itself was bending to her partner's will.

"What you're saying is that you take the law as a _guideline_ \- but then apply the circumstances of each individual case when you make your judgement?"

The King nodded, slowly. " **Yes."**

"Answer me two last questions." The Gravity Mage spoke up, facing the King directly. "In your history, how many times has a Spirit been accused of this crime?"

" **Three hundred and eighty-seven."**

"And how many times was the punishment _actually administered?"_

" **Seven."**

"And in those cases," Declan continued, "how many of them _directly_ killed their contractor, or _deliberately allowed_ lethal harm to come to them?"

There was a moment of silence before the King spoke again. " **Seven."**

Declan stopped pacing, facing the King once more, and clapped his hands together before spreading his arms wide. "Well then, _Your Honour_ , all I can then ask is this - just what grudge do you bear toward Loke in particular that caused you to overturn millennia of compassionate due process?"

The world held that moment for more than long enough for Lucy to store the image forever in her mind. Her partner, standing tall and arms wide, beaten half to hell but standing defiant. And the Celestial Spirit King, massive and luminescent, arms crossed as he stood in mid-air, a silent pillar upon which rested an entire realm and all its inhabitants.

" **Tell me, young man."** The King spoke at last. " **Do you know how many Celestial Spirits there are?"**

Declan considered, then shook his head - and Lucy herself blinked and realised not even _she_ was sure of the answer. She knew quite a lot of the Spirits which had Keys on Earthland, but she knew that there were Spirits who _didn't_ make contracts with humans; and she only knew what she had been taught or had taught herself about those Spirits who _did_ make contracts, so she didn't know everything.

" **There are as many Celestial Spirits,"** the King continued, " **as there exist stars in this universe of ours. Many of them are unknown, lacking much power and any fame; they represent nothing more than the star whose name they bear, and by and large they are content with their existences.**

" **But not all."**

" **In particular, the Spirits who make contracts with humans; they are known, in some cases they are or were at one point worshiped, and they have power. As this power grows it becomes tinted by the legend through which they gain fame, and so a Spirit can gain an identity beyond that which it once represented.**

" **The Spirits of the Silver Keys generally embody minor traits. That so very determined young woman behind you,"** Lucy jolted when she realised that the massive being had just nodded in her direction, " **carries the contracts of Crux, Lyra and Nikola; the embodiments of genealogical knowledge, lyre music and guiding comfort, respectively."**

Lucy absorbed that new knowledge with a sensation that was...less like learning something new, and more having something confirmed. After all, even if Grandpa Crux was a slightly dusty old fellow that liked his sleep, he could know anything and everything about a Spirit and their contractor, though he kept a lot to himself. Lyra never needed to see a song to play it, nor did she hesitate to produce wholly new music from seemingly thin air and play it flawlessly, her voice a perfect accompaniment no matter the tune.

And she always thought better when was holding little Plue; the small Spirit's presence was calming in a way few things could be, giving her the peace of mind she needed to choose the right path.

"If I had to guess, I'd say you're building up to saying you judged Loke differently because of his status as a Spirit of the Golden Keys?"

Lucy glanced at Declan, who was paying rapt attention to the King, before turning her attention back to the massive being when he nodded. " **In all of our history, there have only ever been thirteen Spirits of the Golden Keys,"** he began. " **Apart from myself, they are the oldest among our kind; they are the ones who were worshiped as Gods, as icons, as symbols of far more than just a star.**

" **The humans created their calendar, and they divided it into twelve - they gave governance of each segment to one of those Spirits, such was the faith they placed in them. And that faith brought great power.**

" **My old friend Leo is the oldest of even those; my second,** _ **our**_ **second. Revered as the Lion, the courageous, the valiant…but he is also revered as a conqueror, a warrior and a bestial force. All of these things and more are a part of him; they make him, define him."**

"So in other words," Declan interrupted, "you decided that there was a high chance of his nature leading him to kill his contractor, and skipped due process entirely based on that assumption."

The King nodded, and Lucy could see the way Declan's hands clenched. " _This..._ is why I so very much _hate_ royalty."

Lucy gulped, seeing the glare that Declan directed at the King, noting that this was probably the angriest she had ever seen him. "When all the power in the world is placed in the hands of one person, there are no checks or balances. Right and wrong become the decision of a single individual - an undoubtedly _flawed_ individual, like _all_ people."

" **So you seek to judge me - to judge** _ **us**_ **\- by human standards? You wish for us to constrain ourselves to your human laws and human morals?"**

"Did I _say_ 'human'?" Declan snapped back. "I said _people_ , and I _meant_ it - because something a hero of mine once noted rings true, no matter if you're human or anything else; there is no such thing as a perfect living being, because they all have a bad habit of _bending at the knees._ There is an instinctive need in almost everything that lives to be a part of something greater that translates into following the one who rises above the others, and that's when something like _this_ happens."

Declan threw his right arm back, sending his coat stirring in the wind, to indicate Loke. "You decided you knew best - decided that you knew your ' _old friend_ ' well enough that you could be _sure_ he meant for his contractor to die, that he was being 'defined' by his nature as a destroyer, and never even _considered_ that he was acting as a _protector!"_

Taking a deep breath, the Gravity Mage reached for his right arm - wincing openly, but still completing the movement - and drew back the sleeve of his coat, baring the dark blue Fairy Tail emblem printed on the outside of his arm. "For the last three years, Loke has been a member of Fairy Tail. In that time, he's been a shameless playboy who spent far too much time on his looks and managed to enrage a significant percentage of the men in Fiore when he should have been working."

Lucy glanced idly over her shoulder, and almost wanted to giggle at the affronted, but slightly embarrassed, look on Loke's face - but Declan was still talking, and that drew her attention away.

"But even so, the people there still consider him one of them. He's still _nakama_ \- still _family_." The Gravity Mage let his arms drop, blowing out a breath and losing his glare as if the fuel which had been burning within him had finally run out. "I might be only human," he finished, "but I'd say that no matter _what_ he is, he's earned the right to live."

He took a step backward - pausing for a moment, a smirk pulling at his lips for barely a second. "The defense rests."

Silence fell on the beach as the Spirit King looked down on them from where he stood; his red eyes taking in everything before him as his gaze swept slowly from Declan, to Loke, to Lucy herself - finally coming to rest on the other Celestial Spirit.

" **Well, old friend - your silver tongue has remained the same."**

Loke looked up from his kneeling position, meeting the red gaze and managing a wan smile. "I never managed to talk Aquarius into going out with me, though."

The King huffed out a breath with a sound like a hurricane. " **I had forgotten that insatiable curiosity of yours… Just, as it seems, I forgot we are more than what the humans have made us."**

The King's gaze once more swept over them, lingering on Declan, Loke and Lucy herself for several seconds apiece, until he closed his eyes. " **You left your contractor without the ability to summon Spirits, which led to her taking on a task beyond her capabilities and dying - and for that, I gave punishment.**

" **However, you substituted the abuse suffered by your friend, one of those you were sworn to lead and protect, for abuse of yourself - choosing what could have been your eventual death over her pain. For this, I did nothing...until now."**

Lucy felt a smile begin to spread across her face, as the Spirit King opened his eyes once again. " **Leo my old friend...for the sake of those who have formed such radiant bonds with you, I do what I should have done long ago. Your banishment is rescinded; you may return to the Celestial Spirit Realm whensoever you wish."**

Tears gathered in Loke's eyes, quickly overflowing and running down his face - Lucy could feel the stinging in her own eyes, too, as the utterly impassive face that had stood over them broke into a smile. " **Welcome home, old friend."**

Seeing Loke slump forward as his tears flowed in earnest, Lucy moved over to kneel beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder and smiling her own relief.

He was safe.

" **And as for you, young man…"**

Lucy looked up as the King turned his gaze on Declan in particular - the Gravity Mage meeting the dark red eyes with apprehension that was just obvious enough to notice, but not flinching away.

" **You may consider yourself...** _ **hired.**_ "

Lucy blinked - then blinked again and rubbed her eyes with her hands, Declan doing the same. ""Wait, _what?_ ""

That same massive smile began to spread across the King's face. " **As King, my court is comprised of every Celestial Spirit; peerless in their fields, unparalleled in their skills. However, until today I have never found one that could look me in the eyes and tell me I was wrong."**

Declan frowned. "But I'm not a Celestial Spirit."

" **This coming from the one who argued so very vehemently for the closeness of our kinds?"**

The Gravity Mage grimaced, and Lucy wasn't sure whether she could get away with bursting out laughing or not - it seemed that her partner's ability to dig himself a deeper hole with every action he took didn't just happen when he was talking to her.

"I don't suppose I could raise an objection…?"

The King's form began to break down - armour becoming gold light and swirling into the sky, from the boots up and leaving his armoured, smiling head behind as the last thing to disappear.

" **Overruled."**

In the quiet that followed, broken by the sound of Loke's quiet sobs, Declan sighed. "And now I'm a lawyer. A _Fairy Tail_ lawyer."

He paused, considering. "I don't know if that's ironic, hilarious or just plain tragic."

Lucy raised a hand to her mouth, stifling the laughter that wanted to break free, even while her tears still flowed - all the day's happenings, Loke's near-death, everything came to her at once as she laughed and cried at the same time.

She had never felt more alive.

"Well, why can't it be all of them?" She asked, drawing her partner's attention, and getting an exasperated - but, she believed, fond - look in return.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up." The Gravity Mage walked forward, coming to a halt beside her, and looked down at Loke. "Well, I'd say we're all about due a trip home - I've got to get back to the hospital before they finish the paperwork fining me for stealing their crutch."

Lucy felt a new round of laughter bubbling up from inside her - and she found that it was matched by Loke beside her. "You're a real piece of work, Declan Ross." The Spirit sighed, raising himself up to sit mostly straight on his knees, meeting the Gravity Mage's eyes. "But I guess I owe you."

Declan waved him off. "Save that for when you're working out your contract with Lucy."

Lucy blinked, while the Spirit beside her raised an eyebrow. "You're pretty sure of yourself, aren't you?"

The Gravity Mage gave Loke a singularly deadpan look. "You say that like you could actually _ignore_ the chance to work with her."

Hazel and stormy grey glared at one another for a moment, before Loke broke off the contact with a chuckle. "Yeah - I always have been a sucker for a pretty face."

For that comment, he got a relatively gentle slap upside the head - from Lucy, anyway; Declan's contribution knocked him backwards onto the sand with a _thump._

The Spirit was still chuckling about that, even though he kept a rather challenging look on Declan the entire time, as the Gate was opened and he went home for a well-deserved rest.

Lucy leaned back on her knees after finishing the spell, letting out a long sigh as she felt her magical container hit 'effectively empty'. It had been such a long day; Aquarius always took a lot out of her, but summoning the Celestial Spirit King had been draining beyond all reason. The sand actually felt quite comfortable - maybe she'd just lie down for a little bit…

* * *

 _Declan's POV_

I barely managed to catch Lucy before she keeled over in the sand - checking her pulse quickly, I found that it was fine, while her temperature also seemed about normal for being out on the beach like we were.

' _She just exhausted herself - should be fine with rest._

' _She can't just sleep here, though - I'll have to get her back home.'_

I considered my options, sorting through them until I was only really left with one. ' _...Well, at least she's not awake.'_

With that thought, I bent my knees a little to make sure I could reach, then put one arm behind her knees and the other behind her shoulders before lifting her into a princess carry, keeping her weight low with magic. I might not have been near full, but I had enough left in me to get to Strawberry Street and back. Probably.

I set off toward the Fairy Tail end of the beach, ready to head back into Magnolia and find some way to get Lucy into her apartment (through her window, maybe?) - but I had only taken so many steps when I crossed some invisible threshold, and the world - which, somehow, I had _forgotten was stopped around us_ \- came back to life.

I blinked at the sudden return of sound and wind, the shouts from further down the beach and the sounds of magic being used, taking a moment to re-orient myself.

"So should I have the Master get his book?"

I stopped, looking over my shoulder to where the now-animate Gray and Juvia were standing - one with his arms crossed and smirking like the devil himself, the other glaring daggers at the sleeping girl I was carrying.

"The love rival is crafty…" Juvia growled.

I looked up at the sky for a moment, seeing the clear blue through the massive hole Gray had torn in the clouds, and let out a sigh. ' _This has been a_ long _couple of days...well, at least I can rest no-'_

"NOBODY MOVE! THIS IS THE RUNE KNIGHTS, YOU'RE ALL UNDER ARREST!"

' _...Oh, just_ fuck _today.'_

* * *

 **Omake**

Lucy Heartfilia wasn't entirely sure what she had been expecting when she came into Hargeon that morning - but getting caught up in a Charm spell which had affected a large group of young women _wasn't_ it.

Nor, if she was honest, was how she had been broken _out_ of that spell.

"So, then, Bora - if that _is_ your real name - let me present the summary of this case."

The blonde heiress watched in somewhat stupefied amazement as a man who looked a bit older than her, dressed in a blue suit jacket and dress trousers, adjusted the glasses perched on his nose in such a way that they reflected the light of the sun, turning the lenses into glowing discs at complete contrast with his black hair and hiding his grey eyes.

"You entered Hargeon on a stolen ship with several convicted criminals at the time of oh-three-hundred hours in the early morning, without paying the docking fee; from the hour of oh-eight-hundred this morning forward you have been loitering in various spots throughout Hargeon and attracting large groups that result in blocked thoroughfares, several of them main roads, and you have done this through the use of an illegal Charm spell.

"More than that, you have then issued open invitations back to your ship for all those caught in the effect - quite a few of whom are underage girls.

"Do you deny the charges?"

The blue-haired Mage who had claimed to be Salamander - now revealed as Bora - gritted his teeth, leaning back a bit from the oddly intimidating figure before him. "Of course I do! I've never even owned a Charm spe-!"

"THAT'S NOT RIGHT!"

Bora flinched backwards so hard he almost fell over as one of the suited figure's hands came up, pointing straight at him with the forefinger and middle finger while the thumb was out to the side. "Witnesses at the scenes of your crimes have given testimony that some members of the groups you attracted neither saw nor heard you before becoming instantly infatuated _and then_ turning to face you! A clear sign of a Charm spell!"

Sweat was running down Bora's face as the women around him all looked to one another and started stepping backwards; Lucy did the same, reaching for the comforting grip of Taurus and Cancer as she did so. If this guy had a Charm spell, he was probably a Mage - who knew what he might do next!

"Dammit, fine!" He declared, catching himself and bringing himself to his full height. "I admit, I'm here to get a new batch of slaves for the market! What're you gonna do about it, huh?!"

A slasher grin spread across the suited man's face - before a shining golden magic circle erupted into being behind him, at least four times the man's height and wide enough to spread from one side of the street to another. At the centre was a caricature of a blindfolded woman in a robe holding a set of scales.

"Bora the Slave Trader," the man intoned, "you have been found - **GUILTY."**

One side of the woman's scales suddenly dropped down, a flame lighting on the plate.

Golden light dropped from the sky, surrounding Bora in a luminescent cage that he immediately began trying to break out of, shooting purple fire at the bars but finding that nothing he did worked.

"For the crimes of murder, accessory to murder, kidnapping, human trafficking, rape, the use of drugs on unwilling subjects and the use of magic as a tool of death, you are hereby sentenced..." The man continued, the golden circle behind him turning a hellish red as the blindfold the woman wore fell away, revealing black pits where eyes should have been, a flame burning within them.

"GO TO THE SUN!"

There was a moment of pause as the slave trader's eyes widened - then, with a massive rush of golden magic, he disappeared into the sky like a shooting star, vanishing into the blue only moments later.

Lucy stared at the suited man as he adjusted his glasses once more, the woman in the circle behind him donning her blindfold once more as the scales reset, then vanishing alongside the circle itself.

"Case closed."

* * *

 **Author's Note (PSIness11) is BACK BITCHES!)**

 **(PSIness11): He wrote this entire thing in a day.**

 **Remember when I said that this was going to be dealing with the aftermath of the Phantom Lord attack? Well, I thought so too - then** _ **this**_ **happened, and now Declan is the Celestial Spirit King's lawyer. Gotta love fanfiction - not even** _**I**_ **know what this story's doing any more.**

 **(PSIness11): R.I.P. any sanity you had.**

 **We got very little explanation of what Celestial Spirits actually** _ **are**_ **in the Fairy Tail manga; we know they exist, and we've seen them in action, but beyond that so much about them is a mystery that I could do whatever I wanted with their background. So, I did - and this is what happened.**

 **It's weird, having to think of a good person's justification for sentencing another good person - a** _ **friend**_ **\- to a slow and agonising death; hopefully my thought process made sense, because frankly there's** _ **no way in Hell**_ **this kind of situation hadn't come up before in the entire history of mankind and Celestial Spirits, so for Loke's situation to happen the way it did is just...well, kinda silly. I can only guess that Mashima needed a way for Lucy to get stronger and so he engineered that entire arc.**

 **That doesn't mean I don't** _ **like**_ **the arc - I'm just saying it was a bit shoehorned.**

 **(PSIness11): I can't stop him, he is a monster.**

 **Anyway, on to the** **Reviews:**

 **-Drunkle Qrow, I can feel your compassion - it moves me, it really does. As far as the multiple POVs is concerned, I wouldn't expect there to be such rampant switching very often; a lot of the time there'll be one, maybe two POVs in a single chapter, but for large-scale events like Phantom Lord there was really no other way to do it.**

 **(PSIness11): I concur.**

 **-The Ultimate Balance Chaos, Glad to see my decision went over well; I'll admit, I had planned that bit at the end of the chapter before I ever planned the rest of it.**

 **-Zeru'Xil, Glad to hear it was a satisfying conclusion :)**

 **-kumbrakarna, Wish granted!**

 **(PSIness11): I'm his motivator.**

 **-Kamwanya, Thanks!**

 **-Squadpunk 2.0, They say do what you love - well, I love explosions :)**

 **-Keelan1210, I'm not even sure, so long as you** _ **did**_ **enjoy the chapter.**

 **(PSIness11): YOU THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO BE ANOTHER CHAPTER OF MUSIC, BUT IT WAS ME, NESS!**

 **-blackshadow340, We'll do our best!**

 **(PSIness11): Notice how he said we.**

 **-Greyjedi449t, So do I, Grey - so do I.**

 **-'Ibn', Ch. 17, Aug 1 - Better make that three, mate! I'm glad to hear my twists on Fairy Tail are improving things overall. Funny you should mention Declan and Laxus; there are plans in place for those two interacting, and you only have so long to wait until the grand confrontation comes about.**

 **-Gerbilfriend, Glad to know I'm entertaining you :)**

 **-Blaze1992, You know what they say; no rest for the wicked. I personally feel like having Declan be solely responsible for making the opening necessary to put Jose down would have been a cop-out and made him too much of a Gary Stu; as things are, even this way of doing things will bring consequences. Can't make things too easy for him ;)**

 **-Chiikaru, Hm. You raise a very good point; looking at the story, I can understand how things might seem that way - I can definitely see it from your point of view. I might do some backwards editing, we'll see, but I don't think I can remove Heather from the story entirely. If caring about her as a character would make it more bearable, then I can probably make that happen...but it can't happen in the space of a chapter, realistically. It'll have to happen over time or the only real way to go about it is to have a massive flashback chapter, which I'm a bit iffy about. Thank you very much for the review, please know that I** _ **am**_ **taking what you've said into consideration, and that I'll do my best to try and deal with the issue you've raised.**

 **(PSIness11): I mentioned this to him one day, and he just went "Shit."**

 **-Infernus est in animo, Yes they did.**

 **-Grubkiller13579, Glad to know you enjoyed it :)**

 **-'Murasame777', Ch. 17, Aug 3 - Don't forget Tower of Heaven - that's coming up next.**

 **-'Kurotora', Ch. 17, Aug 3 - Rejoice, for your hopes have been realised!**

 **-'Taylor69', Ch. 17, Aug 3 - Rejoice, for (some of) your hopes have been realised! The pairing will advance in time, but it'll be a little while yet.**

 **(PSIness11): I am attempting to kick it into overdrive.**

 **-crimmsonwolf, I'm glad to know you're enjoying the story; actually, I'm not sure if this might be a wider-spread thing than I realised, but another name for 'The Nasuverse' is the 'TYPE-MOON' universe, which began with the light novel Kara no Kyoukai (Garden of Sinners) in 1998, illustrated by Takashi Takeuchi and written by Kinoku** _ **Nasu**_ **.**

 **End of Reviews**

 **PSIness11 A.N. Not really an author's note, because I have not much to do with the writing of Music, but I would like to invade Teninshigen's privacy for a little bit here. I personally can't thank this man enough for all the help that he has given me with writing my own story. Quite literally, he is taking chapter three of Speeding Through Life, and buffing it in every way. And I want to give back to him, and all of you for helping me get where I am today…**

 **So, despite his protests… I will be commissioning a full body artwork of Declan Ross from a good friend of mine. I would think that most of you would like to see him in all his glory.**

 **That is all.**

 **Teninshigen: Tch - sappy bastard.**

 **PSIness11: You bitch. You know you love me.**


	19. OMAKE - Paradigm Shuffle

_**This chapter is non-canonical, written in one night and then posted at 2 AM. It won't be part of the continuity, though it might be referenced in a future omake. Maybe. I don't know, I wrote this on a whim a like a 1000 word segment and it grew into this. HELP ME, I CAN'T STOP-**_

* * *

 _'Alright – something is definitely weird here.'_

I took another sip from the mug in front of me before glancing around the Guild Hall, the building's ground floor laid out before me from my seat in the back corner. It was a fairly normal day, all things considered; Nab was reading the requests board over Gray and Natsu's heads, Erza's hands were on her hips as she stood in front of a brow-beaten pair of Macao and Wakaba, Lucy was sitting at a bench chatting with Levy while Jet and Droy were drinking in the seats opposite.

The blonde would occasionally glance in my direction – probably wondering why I'd been acting weird since we got back from Galuna.

The answer to that was simple – and Shadow Gear's presence were the biggest sign of it.

Phantom Lord...were _late._

It had been bad enough when we first got back; seeing the Guild Hall whole and intact had been enough to stop me in my tracks and get me wiping my eyes, which I was able to play off as exhaustion from lightening Archie's ship for the return journey...but in the now _two days_ that had followed that, no-one had seen hide nor hair of Gajeel, let alone any of Phantom's other Mages.

The options as I saw them were – I had somehow instigated a major change in the timeline that had either delayed Phantom Lord taking action or completely put a halt to it; I was remembering the manga wrong (not likely – I never forgot a story's plot, even if I forgot to do homework or the answers to exam questions); or, one of the difference between Mashima's portrayal of Fairy Tail and my own experiences had somehow caused this.

I didn't know which of them it was, though I was fairly confident it wasn't the first; I'd been very careful not to make too many waves during my time in Earthland so I could give myself the time I needed to get stronger while keeping the advantage of my future knowledge.

Still, I wasn't really complaining, as such – I'd had a couple of nights' extra practice to work on my techniques.

But the paranoia was _driving me up the fucking wall._

Not literally – _yet_ – but I'd already found that sleep was a long time coming the past three nights, and I didn't see it getting any better.

"Man, this is one creepy looking request notice..."

I focussed on Natsu as my teammate's voice drifted across the relatively quiet hall (it was the weekend, so quite a few Mages had headed home – Elfman was stitching up one of his jackets in the corner, Cana was drinking alcohol by the barrel as usual while Reedus painted in front of her and Romeo sat beside her, Mirajane was manning the bar...oh, and there was Vijeeter, doing something that mixed the styles of the Funky Chicken and the Robot. Which was...actually still pretty normal.), seeing him take a dark poster from the request board and frown at it.

Gray glanced over, his own brow furrowing. "Yeah, that's a weird one alright."

The Dragon Slayer carried the poster to a nearby table and spread it out over the surface, leaning over it as Gray did the same on the other side and Happy perched himself on Natsu's head so he could read it too.

"Jeez, what's with all these weird squiggles?!" Natsu demanded a few seconds later, drawing Lucy's attention.

My partner excused herself from her conversation with Levy to drift over toward Natsu, and I left my drink behind as I followed – a distraction from the constant baited-breath waiting would be quite welcome at this point.

"Decipher this text and I'll see that you'll...increase your wealth by 500,000 Jewels." Gray read off, turning the poster to face him as Natsu grabbed at his hair for a moment.

The dark paper was immediately turned back to the Dragon Slayer when he noticed the change in position, drawing a glare from Gray as he did so, before black eyes scanned the more legible text themselves. "Right, so it's a translation job – I wonder who sent a Guild such a weird request?"

"I dunno," Gray replied, spinning the poster around again to face him – though his gaze locked with Natsu's as they glared at one another. "But 500,000 Jewels for a job like this is pretty good...if your brain isn't made of charcoal, that is."

Natsu's hands slammed down on the table, avoiding the poster by centimetres, and the Dragon Slayer used them to lever himself forward to the middle of the table, his glare ratcheting up a notch. "You're one to talk when your brain's on ice!"

"You wanna go, dragon-breath?!" Gray demanded, mirroring his rival and bringing them close enough together that their foreheads crashed into one-another, causing them both to start pushing forward as best they could to try and drive the other Mage backwards.

Happy, who had fluttered free at just the right moment to avoid being crushed, swooped beneath the bridge the two straining Mages formed with a laugh, grabbing the job request and winging over to Lucy. "Lucy, Lucy, take a look at this!"

The Celestial Spirit Mage took the poster, shivering a little as she looked at it. "That's really creepy...just what kind of weirdo makes a job request like this?"

I finally drew level with the group in time for Natsu and Gray to both start producing magical auras, alternately heating and cooling the air until a spiralling tornado began to form around them and blow eddies throughout the Guild Hall. Ignoring it for the moment, I stepped up beside Lucy, who turned a bit so I could see the request more clearly.

The poster itself was black – and I didn't know much about the printing industry in Fiore, but that seemed like it would take a decent amount of ink to accomplish unless it was done with charcoal. That actually seemed kind of likely, since the rest of the designs on the page were done in white – either chalk or the base colour of the paper beneath the charcoal.

The 500,000J marker was printed in large font at the bottom of the page, pointed to directly by an inverted triangle which took up the whole middle of the page, leaving just enough room for a cloud-like white space near the top with 'Read This' in large black text.

What made it really creepy were the eyes – two large, open eyes, each with stylised eye-lashes done in white and irides that had been decorated like an open flower, set at the 'foot' points of the triangle. In the empty space the triangle contained there was what looked like another piece of paper that had been glued or secured in place in another fashion, with four lines of strange looking characters.

There was some rhyming text in paragraphs on either side of the triangle, filling in the space between the lines and the edge of the paper, but apart from the line that Gray had read aloud none of it made any damn sense.

"It's certainly like none of the others I've seen." I noted, hearing the distinctive sighs of relief from behind me as Erza's attention was drawn by the natural disaster brewing in her territory. "No indication of what the language is or what work's been done it before, nor where it was found...there isn't even an address for us to send the translation to, or a name we can track down."

Lucy hummed, her entire attention on the job request even as an armoured figure clanked past beside her toward the table which was being scorched and deep-frozen at the same time, resulting in a groaning, creaking sound that accompanied the rising roar of the wind. "It's really kind of suspicious...but the Guild Master hasn't removed it, so that must mean it's legitimate..."

The tornado abruptly shut off with two cries of pain and the familiar sound of steel gauntlets on thick skulls, followed moments later by a _snap-crash_ as the poor abused table gave way under the combined weight of said skulls and their attached bodies.

Lucy blinked, then shook her head and eyed the poster again, looking over to me. "I really don't get how anyone's supposed to translate this; I mean, how do you even _pronounce_ this?" She asked, waving to the text inside the triangle with one exasperated hand.

I blinked, then reached for the poster. Lucy handed it to me, and I flipped it over, checking to see if I had actually caught a flash of colour when it waved in her hand.

The Celestial Spirit Mage let out a low "Ohh...", leaning over much as I had done to read the now-revealed text as I did the same.

"So they apparently _do_ know the pronunciation for this..." I muttered, considering the mirror-image triangle on the back of the job request and the phonetically-translated text it contained. "But seriously, who the hell made this thing? It's like they were just trying to make it all spooky and mysterious but didn't give a thought to anyone actually _reading_ the damn thing."

"Who would be willing to spend 500,000 Jewels on a job they're making it difficult to complete...?" Lucy muttered, and I shrugged, sending the poster flopping a bit.

"Takes all sorts to make a world."

"...now you're going to take a job request and pay for the table you broke!"

Lucy and I both looked up from the poster to find that Natsu and Gray were sitting with their knees curled under them in front of Erza, her arms folded, neither Mage seeming to care or notice that they were kneeling on the wrecked remains of the table Erza was apparently making them pay for.

Then again, judging from the rather dazed looks on their faces, they might not really care until the concussions wore off.

"Oh, yeah, the job request!"

 _'Huh – I guess concussions don't last long on Dragon Slayers.'_

Natsu shot to his feet, heading to Lucy and I as Gray followed. Erza, still glaring, came along – probably to make sure they were actually going to follow through with her command.

"Did you guys figure it out yet?" Natsu asked as he came closer, grinning despite his injury and the scolding he'd just got.

"Well, not unless you count figuring out that whoever sent the request is probably a few cards short of a full deck." I told him, holding the poster out to him and pointing out how it had text on both sides.

The trio of Gray, Natsu and Erza all leaned forward together to examine the paper for a few moments, with Erza humming to herself. "So, we are expected to discern the meaning of this text with only the characters of the language and their phonetic translation?"

"Seems that way." I agreed, Lucy nodding beside me.

The Requip Mage folded her arms, frowning. "Providing such little information, and without even the means to contact them for more…this is very poor etiquette."

"We don't need their help for this!" Natsu declared, choosing the table we were standing beside to spread the job request out on once more. "It can't be that hard, can it? Now, let's see…"

The Dragon Slayer leaned over the paper, squinting a little. "Ugo deru rasu chi boro cania…" He stood up straight again, glaring at the paper. "Oh come on, that's just gibberish!"

I hummed. "Well, maybe-"

My train of thought was cut off, however, when the poster began to shine with a rainbow light, quickly encompassing myself, Lucy, Gray, Natsu, Erza and Happy, before all of us began to radiate the same light.

I felt magic wash over me - a kind I wasn't familiar with, but that seemed to grab hold of me and start tugging me away somehow.

I started bringing my hand up to the poster, quite prepared to Gravity Hammer the table into the damn mantle and fuck the bill, but was cut off when the magic surged and redoubled, carrying me away into sensory oblivion.

* * *

When my senses started returning, it was fairly obvious that something was very different.

For one, my sense of the world around me - the indefinable sensation of being constantly aware of every particle composing every object around me - was gone; for the first time in months, I was limited to six senses, and my ability to sense magic seemed to have gone haywire - after all, I could sense my own magic _beside me._

My eyes were closed, judging from the darkness - and I could hear various voices, so my hearing was fine.

I seemed to have slouched forward, so I went to straighten myself and stand straight - and I nearly tipped straight backwards, my balance shot completely to hell.

I staggered, pinwheeling my eyes wildly as I snapped my eyes open, trying to deal with what seemed like a complete reconfiguration of my body. Nothing was where it should be; there wasn't enough space between my shoulders or along my arms, my feet were too small and the soles of my shoes too thin, my clothes were too light - light and _airy._

And to really top it all off, my centre of balance had dropped several inches downward and... _forward?_

I finally managed to get myself standing still, arms stretched out to either side like I was on a tightrope as I tried to use their suddenly lacking weight as a counterbalance.

' _This doesn't make any damn sense! I'm a Gravity Mage - I_ can't _lose my balance unless I want to!'_

Except, my seventh sense was gone - so, did that mean…

' _Have I...lost my magic?'_

The thought startled me, and I instinctively reached for my heart - the area I most commonly associated with the root of my magic - to in a rather futile gesture to check if something had changed…

Only for my hand to stop what felt like a good two inches from the organ, instead depressing something warm and soft - while I _also_ felt my hand, at a point several inches forward of where my memory said my torso should start.

I frowned, clutching my fingers slightly - the sensation translated to my chest, but it felt more like I was holding a pillow. "What the heeee _ll?!_ "

I abruptly released whatever the thing on my chest was to grab my throat - because that was _not my voice._

It was at least two octaves too high; I hadn't had a voice this high since I was younger than ten, and it hadn't lasted long even then - I'd grown too fast to keep the register.

I opened my eyes again, holding my feet carefully still in an effort to remain standing, and immediately looked down to gauge what the _hell_ had gone wrong -

And found myself getting an eyeful of cleavage instead of my duster.

I blinked and stared for a second before immediately changing where I was looking, instead raising my arms as my brain went into overdrive.

' _Okay, okay - I have breasts, now - rather nice breaaaa_ that's not the point! _I was wearing a turquoise shirt; my voice is higher; gather more evidence.'_

I raised my hands, finding the hair atop my forehead and dragging a lock of it down into my view.

' _Golden blonde.'_

I looked down again, taking care where I was looking. ' _Very light pink skirt, leather belt; weight at right hip.'_

A sinking feeling dropped into my stomach, and I brought the backs of my hands up to my eyes.

A pink Fairy Tail emblem cheerfully greeted me from the back of my right hand. My smooth-skinned, delicate, nail-painted right hand.

' _Oh dear sweet Christ in heaven, I'm_ Lucy.'

I immediately looked away from my (Lucy's!) hands, turning to my right - if I was _Lucy,_ then…

I looked up, and met my own eyes coming back the other way - shining with the same horrified confusion that was dawning in my own mind.

"...Lucy?" I asked, wincing a bit at the familiar but _wrong_ voice that passed my lips.

"Declan?" My voice asked back, a grimace twisting the features I saw in the mirror every morning as one of Lucy's (My!) hands went to her throat. "Oh, that's weird…"

"But certainly not the weirdest thing that's happened…" I replied back, dazedly reaching down with my (hopefully temporary) right hand to my hip, and feeling a cool metal ring with the familiar shapes of keys hanging from it.

Still thinking through a haze, I turned to look around - almost falling again with how unfamiliar the lower perspective was after years of my usual height.

Happy - or, as I was fearing, whoever was in Happy's _body_ \- was staring around wildly, tumbling a bit as he moved. "What the hell?!" Came the high-pitched cry, cementing my fear. "Why'd everything suddenly get so big?!"

I turned to the others with dread, seeing that Erza's body was swaying table, a look of shock on their face. "Where did this...weight come from…?!" A strained, deeper-than-usual version of Erza's voice ground out, before the redhead toppled forward onto the table, raising their arms to support themselves before raising splinters and denting the wood where their hands impacted in a _thud_ I could feel through the soles of Lucy's sandals.

Gray, meanwhile, was hugging himself, shaking slightly. "Why is it so cold all of a sudden?" They asked, Gray's usual timbre having tried to drag itself up a couple of octaves. "My armour is usually warmer than this...!"

' _That's Natsu, Gray and Erza…'_ I noted. Then, I paused. ' _Wait...where's Hap-'_

" **Fire Cat's Iron Paw!"**

There was an explosion from behind me, and I spun around to try and get a visual on it - instead, my maneuver turned into a rapid rotation as I failed to account for my new centre of balance and weight distribution, dragging me past the point where I tried to stop and sending me tumbling to the floor in an impact I felt far more than any fall I'd had since arriving in Earthland.

Still, from where I was lying with my cheek pressed to the floor and golden hair sprawled across my vision, I could see Natsu's body with a massive grin on its face as its fist flickered with light, Happy having decked Elfman of all the people who had gathered around after the light-show the poster had given off.

"Muhahahahhaaha!" Happy declared, putting his newly-acquired human hands on his hips as he laughed. "That's for saying real men don't eat fish!"

I groaned, even as I went about trying to get my hands under me so I could push myself back up to my feet. ' _Happy the cat with Dragon Slayer powers. I almost wish Gajeel would show up right about now, just to appreciate the train wreck that would result.'_

"Here," I heard, before feeling hands on my shoulders that provided an aid getting to my feet. Once I was vertical again, I discovered that those had been _my_ hands - courtesy of a Lucy who was apparently far more sure on her feet than I was following this body-swap. "I guess I was right back on Galuna - girls really do have better balance than boys."

I glared as best I could back up at my own face, though I knew from being on the receiving end that glaring really just made Lucy seem adorable most of the time. "Well, if _this_ is what you had to deal with all the time, it's no wonder."

My eyes widened as, barely a moment after I spoke, the weight of Lucy's body at least doubled, only letting me stay standing with the shift since I was set fairly well. " _What was that?"_

"Lucy, careful!" I called, glad that Lucy was at least in good shape, even if it wasn't approaching the improbable levels I had developed in my own body. "Don't crush anything!"

There were a few moments of nothing, then the pressure let up - I managed to properly stand straight again, breathing a little harder, to find that Lucy was staring down at my hands with a furrowed brow and slightly wide eyes.

"That...I wasn't even trying to…" She muttered, and I sighed, reflexively bringing my hand up to scratch the back of my head - but finding that doing so constricted the shirt Lucy had been wearing, making it harder to breath. I couldn't actually reach the back of my head anyway, since her hairstyle was in the way today.

"So, we've swapped bodies and magics." I noted, looking around our group again.

Happy!Natsu had somehow managed to get his hands on his some fish and was carefully cooking them in his hands; Gray!Erza was struggling manically to get out of the armour they were wearing, apparently driving themselves mad in doing so; Erza!Gray was yelling at their body, while an icy sword seemed to be forming in their hands without any conscious direction.

And Natsu!Happy…

The little blue cat was standing in front of a table leg, scowling madly, drawing his paw back with the fingers curled in.

" **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"**

He launched the punch forward-

And immediately fell to the floor with a yell, rolling around and clutching the limb as he did so.

The table was, needless to say, rather less bothered by the collision.

"Well…" I tried to think of something to say that would alleviate some of the panicked atmosphere, but turned up a blank. ' _I have absolutely no idea what to do in this situation.'_

"Why did this _happen?_ " Lucy!Me moaned beside me, dropping their face into their hands. "All those years of growing...and now I'm completely flat again!"

I felt the face I was wearing drop into a deadpan that felt just as real as any expression I'd worn myself. "My commiserations; glad to see you've got your priorities in order."

I folded my arms - or tried to, finding that Lucy's 'pride and joy' were very much in the way. I put that thought _right_ out of mind, then dropped my arms a few inches and folded them beneath the impediment. "Alright; we need to get to the bottom of this."

I looked around again, considering my fellows; Lucy!Me was listening, Natsu!Happy was still yelling on the floor, Gray!Erza was running in circles to get away from Erza!Gray and the solid-ice broadsword they were brandishing, and Happy!Natsu was climbing up on a table.

"Alright! Everyone's gonna say 'Happy the cat is the best Mage in Fairy Tail' - and if you don't, I'll burn you to a crisp!"

' _...So,_ this _is what cats would be like if they were the superior species. Sounds about right.'_

I brushed my hand against the keys at my side again - but while I could feel the thrumming magic within them, it didn't respond to my touch; didn't reach out to connect with the starlight shimmer I could feel inside my body, now that I was paying attention.

' _Alright, it figures that the contract isn't in Lucy's_ body; _that would be too easy to exploit.'_

So, no magic of my own. In that case, I'd just use the next-best thing.

I took a deep breath, apologising to Lucy's shirt for the abuse it undoubtedly suffered on a daily basis, and _yelled._

" **SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN, IDIOTS!"**

Gray!Erza stopped running in mid-step and dropped into a forward roll which ended up with them sitting cross-legged. Natsu!Happy stopped crying and swearing, rolled over on their back and presented their belly to the air. Happy!Natsu fell off the table with a _crash_ , bouncing on their head and ending up lying on their back facing the ceiling with a dazed expression.

While Cana and Romeo seemed unaffected, Reedus startled badly enough to throw his palette into the sudden ramrod-straight Wakaba, who tipped into the identically-rigid Macao and sent them both crashing to the floor, where Vijeeter - who had leapt about six feet into the air from a standing start - came down and landed on them, immediately falling over himself and getting all three men caught up in a tangled knot of limbs.

Elfman shot from his laid-out position to a sitting one, found a table in the way, and knocked himself unconscious again.

There were a few moments of silence - then, behind the bar, Mirajane started laughing to herself, one hand in front of her mouth. A few seconds later, a much more boisterous laugh echoed out from Cana, while Erza!Gray turned to me and nodded. "A well-delivered command; nicely done…?"

"Declan," I replied, rubbing my throat for a moment before waving my teammates toward the table where the job poster was. "Now c'mon, we've gotta try and figure out how this happened and how we're gonna undo it."

' _Knowing our luck, though, this might last a while…'_

"I'll help." Levy spoke up, walking carefully around the writhing pile of Mages that had been Vijeeter, Wakaba and Macao toward us. "I know quite a few old languages and I've worked with them a lot - I should at least be useful."

I nodded my appreciation, even as Jet and Droy managed to stop shaking straight-backed in their seats and stumble after their team leader. "It's appreciated, Levy."

I took a step toward the table myself and almost toppled forward, grimacing. "Dammit - the balance is all wrong in this body."

Lucy!Me crossed their arms, putting their nose in the air. "Just because you're a graceless clout doesn't mean you should blame _my_ body."

I turned a vaguely incredulous stare on her - but looking into my own green/grey eyes, I could see how they were still widened, could see the dilated pupils and the clenched jaw-line.

' _Something's probably wrong if I've forgotten what it's like to care about what happens to yourself.'_

Lucy was scared - of course she was; she had suddenly found herself in a completely unfamiliar body, with no frame of reference, and her own body had been hijacked by someone she had only known a couple of weeks, 'partner' status or not.

She needed a way to cope; I wouldn't begrudge her that.

"Yeah yeah, you're the pinnacle of all beauty in the world and your body was obviously sculpted for a goddess before she realised it was too good for her." I replied, turning away to glare at the feet I was now using. "Now for God's sake help me get to the table before I start turning this divine vessel of yours into one massive bruise."

I didn't get a verbal response, but the hand that gripped my elbow was enough of a balance aid to get me to the table and sitting down.

"Now," Levy began, putting on her Gale-Force Reading Glasses and reaching for the poster. "Let me see here…"

* * *

The blunette had only been working for a couple of minutes, while Erza!Gray kept the others in line and I shot ideas back and forth with Lucy to both keep her mind on track and try to figure out a place to start, when the doors to the Guild opened.

We turned to look, along with the now-seated Vijeeter, Macao and Wakaba, Cana and Romeo, Reedus (who had retrieved his palette), and the duo of Nab and Laki - both of whom had wisely chosen to lean on the railings around the centre of the room and watch the show rather than enter the 'splash zone'.

Elfman was still out-cold on the floor. I'd have tried to move him, but since I couldn't even move myself, I spent my time more productively.

Standing in the doorway and surveying the Guild, Master Makarov rubbed his chin with one hand, the other holding his smiley-face staff tucked over behind his back to protrude over his shoulder. "Well well well...seems you kids aren't in your right minds today, huh?"

"Master!" Erza!Gray called, getting up from the table and rushing over to the diminutive man - followed quickly by everyone else while I glared at the legs I was appropriating.

' _For such nice legs, they're a damn nuisaaaaaa oh for_ fuck's sake _keep your head in the game!'_

"Slow and steady…" I told myself, levering myself off the bench with my arms to stand up straight-

And immediately toppling backwards, barely catching myself in a reverse-bridge before I whacked Lucy's head off the next table.

' _I'm getting really sick of this shit.'_

"Careful, Declan!" My own voice admonished me, as Lucy!Me came back over to push me back into a sitting position as the others returned to, Master Makarov hopping up onto the table where Levy hadn't broken off speeding through what I thought was a reference guide, occasionally glancing at the job request.

"Feeling a bit off-balance, Ross?"

I turned the most baleful glare Lucy's face could conjure on my Guild Master, getting a wide grin in return. "Ah, I guess it's to be expected with you - still, you'll probably get the hang of it…" He paused. "In a few weeks."

I blinked, glancing sideways at Lucy!Me. "The spell turns permanent after thirty minutes…" She told me, gripping her elbows with her hands. "And we've already used up fourteen of those."

I grimaced. "A time limit - brilliant."

"Ah, cheer up kid!" Master Makarov declared cheerfully. "D'you know how many kids your age would kill to be in your position?"

I looked at Makarov.

Makarov looked at me.

I punched Makarov in the face, sending the man hurtling off the table and over the bar in a backwards somersault as his head caught the wood, making a satisfying _thump_ as he landed.

"I take it back, Lucy." I declared, rubbing the reddened knuckles of the hand I was borrowing. "The balance might be shot, but this thing has a really good arm."

Lucy!Me glared after Makarov, arms folded. "I'm glad you think so…" She declared, turning my own face to glare at _me._ "Because you're going to get a really good look at it once I have it back."

I huffed out a breath, folding my arms and plunking my forehead down on them with a groan. "As her highness commands; I am but your humble, abused servant, starved for affection, waiting on you hand and foot and receiving nothing in return…"

"Oh come on, knock it off!" Lucy!Me growled. "And sit up - we need to get this reversed."

I sighed a bit - but she was right, so I straightened Lucy's back - with a bit of difficulty; I could only imagine just how strong her spine was that said difficulty was as minimal as it felt - to face the table again…

Though I couldn't resist one last glance at my body. "Yeth, Mithtrethhhh."

Natsu!Happy laughed himself silly enough to fall backwards off the table, while Happy!Natsu covered his mouth with both hands, chuckling to himself. "I guess this is what humans call a 'dom and sub' relation-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence, since Lucy!Me punched him in the nose, toppling the cat in a Dragon Slayer's body backwards from his seat with a yelp of pain and a crashing thud.

Lucy settled back in her seat with a humph, folding her arms once more. "I suppose your arm's not bad either, Declan."

I grinned. "Be it ever so humble, this servant's body is at your disposal."

Watching my own face go bright red was as rather interesting experience, I noted - even if Lucy!Me quickly turned away. "Don't say it like that, you idiot!"

I sighed, releasing the tension that had built up in the thin, yet strong shoulders that were currently mine, and stretched a bit - though not enough that I stopped being able to breathe. ' _We have a quarter of an hour left to get ourselves back to normal. I'm sure we will; after all, even if I don't know this event, the world so far has run on narrative causality, and this isn't the kind of thing the author would make stick…_

' _But this has been fun. Kind of.'_

"Alright, alright," I acquiesced, grabbing a pen and a sheet of paper as I started writing down what we knew so far. I paused, considering for a moment, before deciding I might as well make the most of this grace period before I ended up getting my comeuppance when Lucy was back in her own body.

"Still, if you ever find a need for my body again, you only have to ask."

"DAMMIT, DECLAN!"

I cackled to myself as I started writing again. Even in a situation like this, being around Lucy and the others kept me lighthearted.

* * *

"Ainac orob ihc usar ured ogu!"

The lightshow this time subsumed the Fairy Tail Guild Hall entirely, creating a pillar of light that reached up into the heavens and set the entirety of Magnolia into contrast with its own shadow.

* * *

I knew the moment I settled back into my body.

My balance returned in an instant, just as my seventh sense did; the world mapped itself out around me in shades of tension and weight, bringing with it a sense of security I didn't know I'd developed until I lost it.

I opened my eyes, enjoying the way my body moved properly, shifting my centre of balance and weight perfectly according to my wishes.

A quick gesture with my left hand pulled Elfman into the air and then set him down on a bench, the homely thrum of magical power running through me.

' _That's better.'_

I folded my arms with a sigh - glad I could actually fold them normally now, with nothing in the way.

I might have joked with Lucy, but honestly, being back in my own body was a great source of comfort - if at all possible, I was never going through an experience like that again.

It was, of course, while I was appreciating the comfort of returning to the vehicle of my soul that all the memories of how I'd acted in Lucy's body came rushing back in a flood that seemed fit to set my face alight and take my clothes along for the ride.

' _Holy_ fucking SHIT _, what the_ fuck _was I thinking?!_ Was _I thinking?!'_

I made a note to myself - apparently, suddenly being given someone else's brain could affect the way you thought and acted, or even how you perceived actions.

I was still in the middle of getting a grip on myself, turning for the door so I could get some fresh air, when I heard a growl behind me.

" _ **LUUUUCYYYYYY…"**_

I vaguely considered trying to dodge the kick...but even as I did so, I felt a weight on my foot.

I looked down in the moments before impact - and found a wrinkled hand wrapped around my ankle, connected to a wrist which stretched away behind me.

I didn't need to see him to know Makarov was wearing a shit-eating grin.

" _ **KIIIIICK!"**_

' _I'm not paying for the doors.'_ Was my last coherent thought before I turned said guardians of the entryway into matchsticks on my way through them.

* * *

Later that day, I sat on the wall of the Strawberry Street canal, a bag of ice seemingly spontaneously pressed to my back through the shirt I was wearing.

I had hung up my duster so I could beat the splinters out of it, then had the urge to just be outside for a while, so I grabbed the never-melt ice pack Gray threw at me on his way home and took it with me outside.

It was another cloudless night in Magnolia; the stars were out in full force, shining down alongside a gibbous moon.

' _The Plough; Lyra; Scorpius…'_

I was learning - slowly but surely - to pick out the shapes among the stars. Mostly because, somehow, nearly every time I came out to sit here -

"Can't sleep again, Declan?"

-Lucy would find me.

I shrugged, even as the blonde perched herself beside me, our legs dangling toward the water below. She'd let her hair down, putting on plain black trousers and a white top with flowers that were probably her normal sleep wear.

I had a hard enough time acting casual around her in moments like these on most days; with all the memories I had gained from today, I could barely glance at her before having to turn away or hold the conversation with a tomato-red face.

"Today was kinda scary, huh?"

I hummed a vague agreement, while beside me Lucy sighed and drew her legs up a bit, hugging her knees - drawing my attention enough to make sure I kept her gravity in my influence, so she couldn't go toppling forwards.

"I'm sorry I was being a bit...well…"

"You shouldn't be."

I could see her turn to me out of the corner of my eye, even if it was just the movement of her head, and elaborated. "I know you just needed something to keep you distracted; it's fine. I know you weren't really having a go at me."

Her head moved again, and I guessed where her eyes had gone.

"You might have a good arm, but your legs have...quite the _kick._ " I noted, drawing a groan from the blonde that petered off into a sigh. "I'd almost regret not using them on Master Makarov if you didn't wear those skirts all the time."

Lucy snorted. "I don't comment on your wardrobe, 'tall dark and flappy', you don't comment on mine."

I winced, throwing my hands into the air. "Fine, fine, I admit defeat. You are the fashion mistress."

"So long as you know it." Lucy smiled, the light glinting on her teeth (Earthland teeth are made of something stronger than enamel and I'm sure of it - nothing organic should be _that white_ ). "Besides, why would I deprive the world of the beauty of my legs?"

She hummed, raising a finger to rest on her chin. "What was it you said earlier…"

I groaned, lowering my face into my hands. "Oh, come on, Lucy…"

"'You're the pinnacle of all beauty in the world!'" Lucy exclaimed dramatically, throwing one arm out wide like she was addressing a theatre. "'Your body was obviously sculpted for a goddess before she realised it was too good for her!'"

I groaned again, looking at my partner sideways with a look that was probably more 'grumpy' than grimace, if I was brutally honest with myself. "Well, I guess I know you can take a compliment - take it and run a damn mile."

"I suppose my legs really _are_ just that good." Lucy shot back, and I raised a hand to my head, massaging my temples.

There was silence for another few moments, before Lucy spoke again.

"...I really am sorry about the kick though. You were only trying to help, and I just offloaded everything on you…"

I shrugged. "I'm a Gravity Mage, Lucy." When she turned to me once more, raising her face from where she had been staring at the water, I continued. "More than that, we're members of the same Guild. We're teammates, we're partners…"

I paused, taking a breath. "...You're my friend."

And there was an admission that took more effort on my part than could have been expected.

"If you ever want something off your shoulders, I'm happy to take some of the strain. I want you to be happy and well; if I need to get a couple of bruises for that, well." I waved at the ice on my back and rubbed my right arm absent-mindedly. "I'm fine with that."

There were another few moments of silence, before I nearly jumped out of my skin when a warm weight leaned into my side.

I looked sideways, finding myself looking down on a head of golden hair. "Uh...Lucy?"

"I haven't had someone to look at the stars with me since...well, for a long time now." My partner told me - quietly, nearly whispering. "I...can we stay like this? For a little while?"

I held still - and even though I could feel the blush trying to rise, something about the moment held it back.

This quiet little bubble in time and space called 'the present'...felt too right for that embarrassment.

"...Sure, princess."

"Thanks, sir knight."

* * *

 **And now, instead of an author's note, you get - 'shit Ness said and didn't think I'd write down while I was typing this'. Or, as I like to call it -  
**

 **#JustNessThings (Viewer Discretion is Advised)**

 **"That time Declan got tits." - Ness**

 **"Pride and Joy (Which is which?)" - Ness**

 **"Fuck nature in its ass!" - Ness**

 **"Fuck, I spilled water on my chest!" - Ness**

 **"Ah, my shirt's wet!" - Ness**

 **"We're shirtless now, baby!" - Ness**

 **"Listen here fuck-ass, I'm the dungeon master!" - Ness**

 **"Here's how I write my chapters - I have the google doc open to my right, and five black guys playing Pokémon open to the left. Either that or a cooking show." - Ness**

 **"Oooh - so God hates you." - Ness**

 **"My body is ready." - Ness**

 **"Would you eat ass on a first date?" - Ness**

 **"Bandit Keith is my spirit animal." - Ness**

 **"HOTUUUUUUU DOGUUUUUUUUU!" - Ness (screamed at the top of his lungs. Time: 1AM)**

 **"The fact that Sonic x Fairy Tail Harem fics are a thing - and that some are more popular than Speeding - makes me want to kill myself." - Ness**

 **"Johnathon Joestar is my favourite Ed, Edd n' Eddy character." - Ness**

 **"Make them kiss you faggot!" - Ness**

 **"Jesus Christ, you're like a fucking hamster on crack with how fast you type!" - Ness**

 **"Put that in the fucking quotes!" - Ness**

 **"I don't think Juvia Lockser and Trixie Tang from Fairly Odd Parents are one and the same, TENINSHIGEN." - Ness**

 **"But you do make a good point." - Ness**

 **You have learned a very valuable lesson about our writing practices. Take it to heart while I take myself to bed.**


	20. XVIII - Firmament

As Gray, Juvia, myself and the still-sleeping Lucy made our way to rejoin the greater body of Fairy Tail after trudging up the beach from where we'd landed earlier, we found that the beachfront area behind the Guild Hall had become a swarm of activity.

The Rune Knights were eminently recognisable, even from a distance; their uniforms were garish, almost priest-like, with long, dark, high-collared, sleeveless robes worn over light shirts with loose sleeves that were kept from flying around too much by bands worn just below the elbow. They wore white tabards over their torsos that bore the Council's Ankh in a dark blue, held in place by belts around their waists - the back of those tabards were hidden by the white cloaks they wore, also bearing the Council Ankh, clasped at their necks with jewel-adorned, rhomboidal bronze pins.

They each carried a metal staff as tall as the wielder, ending in a Lacrima orb which was topped with a small cross.

Arguably, though, it was their hats - with a bulb-shaped peak like the top of a Bishop piece in chess and two petal-like peaks, one to either side of the bulb to make the hats look like an opening flower from the front or back - that always ensured everyone in viewing distance was aware of who they were looking at.

Ah, politics - where the sillier your hat was, the more pretentious...eh... _important_ you were.

There didn't seem to be a division commander or any such ranked officer among the swarm which had moved in once the battle was over; one of them _was_ giving orders, but he was probably just the assigned garrison commander for Magnolia, a post I'd give a fifty-fifty chance of him gaining through a game of rock-paper-scissors.

It might seem a bit odd, that I had a seemingly low opinion of the Rune Knights when I had spent so much time with the Guard back in Hargeon, even working with them fairly closely.

Well, it wasn't as hypocritical as it seemed - because just like the army, the navy and the air force, the Military Police and the Rune Knights _hated each others' guts._

The Rune Knights - who were, each and every one, at the very least trained in the use of manufactured magic items - sneered and looked down on the Royal Guard for being wholly comprised of non-magicals; meanwhile, the Military Police found the Rune Knights hilarious because they never got anything done and they looked fucking ridiculous.

In the end, it all came down to where the two groups reported; the Rune Knights served the Magic Council, and the Military Police were a sub-division of the Fiore Royal Military, and thus they reported up the line to the King of Fiore himself.

Why was there such a division of control in a Kingdom, where absolute power should seem to rest with the reigning monarch? For the same reason that you _can't have_ 'absolute power' in a world where ten percent of the population can become WMDs - sometimes _without even trying._

Fiore - and Earthland in its entirety - had always had the clear division between Mages and non-magicals. The former were generally more well-learned, possessed incredible skills and were powerful in combat; however, the latter _vastly_ outnumbered them, were in general more cohesive and group-oriented, while at the same time having the potential to accomplish almost anything a Mage could do but with non-magical methods.

As countries were being carved from the earth and borders were being drawn, leaders would arise on both sides of that magic-driven divide - and, in the beginning at least, that meant war over the right to rule the populace of the newly-formed country.

However, with time and the absolute destruction of large swathes of land and the people who lived there, a grudging co-existence came to be - Fiore being, in fact, one of the earliest examples of a country where Mage and non-magical leaderships began working in concert.

Thus, the Magic Council and the King - Fiore's two ultimate authorities, with one having absolute dominion over its populace, but the other possessing an equal authority over any Mage or user of magic.

Technically, the Magic Council was supposed to be subservient to the King - but that was mostly just propaganda, a way to make sure the populace believed the King's word was absolute. The simple fact was that the Magic Council represented at least the majority of all Mages in Fiore, and attempting to press-gang them into anything was the kind of mistake which could be measured in megatons.

And that wasn't even considering how pervasive Magic was in modern Earthland; it was _everywhere_ , powering transportation, providing clean water, aiding the growth of crops and the rearing of animals, maintaining stable weather patterns and providing a looming threat to neighbouring countries that kept roaming eyes away from the coastal Kingdom.

If the Magic Council acted appropriately, they could cripple Fiore beyond any hope of recovery in a very short space of time. They effectively had the King by the balls...on paper.

In reality, the Magic Council was ten elected members and a vast array of administrative staff with attached bodies like the Rune Knights and the Wizard Saints - who were supposed to be under their control just as Guild Masters were, but then again, one only had to point to Makarov to show just how much their authority meant to some Mages, with the respect they were shown generally being inversely proportional to the strength of the Mage.

Sure, not every Guild was Fairy Tail - but the Magic Council still had considerably less power than it might otherwise have seemed.

So, Fiore was in a near-constant state of cold civil war; the Magic Council and the King grudgingly sharing space, puffing themselves up to try and make themselves look bigger, while their proxies, servants and employees acted on that unspoken animosity and got under each others' feet, creating a widespread, low-level resentment of the 'other side' that became present in anyone who wasn't a fresh recruit.

But that was politics for you.

Still, no matter how much of the Guards' opinion (and mine, by proxy) was built on the friction between the Magic Council and the King, there was no mistaking the fact that the Rune Knights were, in a lot of situations, totally fucking useless.

Their Division Commanders could be quite competent Mages, some even approaching S-Class levels, but the average foot-soldier wouldn't have been a match for even a member of Eisenwald. They were trained in batches with basic techniques and no allowance for their individual skills, issued mass-produced Stun Lacrima on sticks and taught basic drills, then they were posted in a garrison where they _might_ have the luck to cut their teeth on progressively stronger Dark Mages, or they might just get utterly flattened by the first semi-competent Dark Mage to walk through their area.

There was a damn good reason they only ever showed up _after_ the fact in battles like the one that had just been fought - after all, no matter how jumped-up they were on their Council-granted authority, they had survival instincts.

Most of them, anyway. The group of about five who had broken away from the group to approach us, however, seemed to lack that much brainpower.

I took a moment to observe them as they approached; one in particular, a young-looking man with a moustache which was far less impressive than he'd probably like to believe, was out in front, so I focussed on him, giving him the kind of once-over I'd learned how to do from the time I'd spent in Hargeon.

"Mages of Fairy Tail, you are under arrest-" One of them began, and my patience snapped before he'd even finished his third syllable.

"-For what charge?" I broke in, which apparently set the spokesperson back on his heels.

He glanced at his compatriots, but when they just blinked, he cleared his throat and tried to recover some of his sense of purpose. "For damage to public property!"

"What public property?" I asked blankly. "Fairy Tail owns the Guild Hall and the land between it and the shore; and Phantom Lord's Guild Hall likewise belongs to Phantom Lord."

The soldier blinked, opened his mouth - and I cut him off again. "And as for the destruction of private property - well, you can go and ask Jose if he wants to press charges; of course, you'll probably be a bit busy sentencing him for numerous uses of Dark Magic, attempted human sacrifice, enough attempted murder counts to encompass all of Magnolia, the initiation of an inter-Guild war…"

The soldier in front of me was just blinking, his mouth hanging open a bit - his peanut gallery were remaining blank-faced and unresponsive.

It figured - he'd probably never been called on for anything more than arresting some Hedge mage, _if that._ Having someone _talk back_ to them instead of instantly bowing to the Magic Council's sacred authority was probably wholly out of their world-view. The others looked like they had some experience, but they weren't going to his defense; either they wanted him to toughen up or they just plain didn't like him.

I tapped my foot on the sand. "I'm gonna make this simple for you - either charge us with something legitimate, or get the hell out of my way so I can get my partner somewhere safe."

I smiled - well, to be more accurate, I showed my teeth.

"Or, of course, I can fly over to Era and lodge an official complaint about the Magnolia Rune Knights interfering in rescue and relief efforts in the aftermath of what I'd rate as a…"

I paused, scanning the devastated area, the smouldering, ruined remains of the Super Phantom Mk. II, and the multitude of Fairy Tail Mages who were collapsed where they could find space to sit, gradually growing more irritated by the Rune Knights surrounding them.

"Class eight situation?" I mused. "Yeah, probably a class eight."

I returned my gaze to the slightly pale soldier in front of me. "I'm sure you don't want to be the one who brought down an audit on your garrison - so, I'm confident you'll do the _sensible, professional thing,_ and _get out of my way._ "

The soldier stood in place for a few seconds - then stepped out of our path. His 'friends' glanced at one another before doing likewise, and I took the opportunity to move through the space they'd opened. "Thanks, officer - good to see someone with a little common sense around here."

Gray and Juvia followed quickly in my footsteps as I kept moving forward, the Ice Mage leaning forward a bit to talk to me. "A class eight situation?"

"Made it up." I admitted. "That guy hasn't been on the job more than five months, though, so it's not like he knew that; and in any case, he's got some kind of fast-track career planned - probably since he comes from money or nobility - but he's not so confident in it that he can afford to rock the boat very much. He wasn't going to put his neck on the chopping block by risking me _actually_ placing a report, and he's not experienced enough to think of a new charge to throw at us after losing his momentum like that."

Gray blinked a couple of times. "Wait, you seriously got all that just in the time since he walked up to us?"

I nodded. "Signet ring of some kind on his left hand, freshly-polished, high-price boots, his squadmates' equipment had signs of use which means experience but they were deferring to him anyway despite his obvious lack thereof."

The Ice Mage whistled. "That's kinda impressive." He glanced over his shoulder, and doing the same I was in time to see the less experienced soldier turn around to the others and start gesturing - trying to re-establish some semblance of authority or make sure he looked busy for his commanding officer.

"It's a knack."

When we reached the edge of the full swarm, I did a quick visual sweep of the area - Natsu was lying spread-eagled in the sand with Happy draped tiredly over his chest, both looking exhausted; the Dragon Slayer looked fairly injured, too, but he was breathing fine.

The rest of Fairy Tail were scattered hither and yon in various groups - but the one I focussed in on was Makarov, who was slumped on a ruined crenellation and crying his eyes out silently as the Rune Knights' leader read from a scroll in his hands...though the bearded man looked rather unsettled by the senior citizen sobbing in front of him.

I headed in their direction, not bothering to acknowledge the soldiers spread around - since we were already among them, a purposeful enough stride kept us from really being noticed for the few seconds needed for me to walk up behind the group leader and read the scroll over his shoulder.

' _Warrant of general arrest for the Fairy Tail Guild, signed by two Magic Council members, charges of initiating an inter-Guild war. Either they wrote this up as soon as the Oak Town incident happened, or someone had this planned in advance.'_

Trains of thought flickered, ran together and hypothesised. ' _The Magic Council dislike Fairy Tail in general; they don't appreciate the freedom they embrace and encourage, the disrespect of their authority, or the idea of having Natsu, Erza, Laxus and others running around out from under their thumb. Some are neutral and at least one is benevolent, but it's feasible that one of them might have worked with Jose to let the fall for this event land on Fairy Tail._

' _Actually,'_ I considered, ' _that makes a Hell of a lot of sense. Jose couldn't have expected to just get off scot-free after this...he must have been sure that none of the blame would go to him. So he had the backing of a Magic Council member… or maybe even more than one.'_

I could believe that - general opinion of the Magic Council was at an all-time low even in low-magic environments like Hargeon; finding out that at least some of them were corrupt wouldn't surprise me even the tiniest bit.

' _Or maybe it's Ultear and Jellal behind this…'_ I pondered. ' _I'm not sure what their motivation could be, though-'_

Another thought clicked. ' _The interrogations. Jellal has been planning the Tower of Heaven event for years now, meaning he's likely planned for not being able to get Erza alone - so, he wants to have more in-depth knowledge of the other Guild members so he can war-game more effectively.'_

Sneaky sneaky; as expected from a chessmaster archetype.

' _Now, how can I fuck this up for him?'_

I blinked - then turned back to face Gray and Juvia. "I think I just thought of a way to stop us all being arrested."

* * *

"So, let me go over this one more time."

I considered rolling my eyes, but decided that just staring at the Garrison Commander was a more effective action for the situation.

"You two," the man began, indicating the two other people in the tent with me - namely, Juvia Lockser and a bedraggled Gajeel Redfox, "were S-Class members of Phantom Lord…" He paused, giving Juvia time to nod - then kick Gajeel in the shin under the table, prompting the cross-armed Dragon Slayer to do the same. "But after hearing Jose Porla's plans to take up a kidnapping job and destroy Fairy Tail to cover up the evidence, you decided to support Fairy Tail instead."

"Juvia could never do anything that would upset Gray-sama."

Gajeel spat sideways. "That damn vampire wasn't worth following, anyway."

The Commander's eye twitched. "So - both of you decided to make your way to Magnolia and leave warnings behind with members of Fairy Tail. You, Mr Redfox, decided to…" He reached for a piece of paper on the table, shaking it out for effect before squinting slightly as if the text written thereupon was anything other than legible. "'Beat the message into the mouthy fairy's thick skull.' - in your own words, where Mr Ross here is the 'fairy' in question."

Gajeel nodded, and the Commander turned an incredulous look on me.

I half-shrugged. "It's a requirement for entry into Fairy Tail - if you can't shatter stone with your forehead, it's generally considered a poor career choice."

Exhaustion helped me keep a straight face - but the Commander's twitching eyebrow got worse.

"You also say that Ms Lockser here left a warning with Macao Conbolt and Wakaba Mine?"

Another round of nods, and this time there was a somewhat crafty glint in the Commander's eye. "So, if I sent one of my men to go and ask right now, those two would say they received a warning of Phantom Lord's intentions from Ms Lockser here?"

Gajeel and Juvia hesitated, but I nodded.

The Commander frowned, but got up for a moment to give instructions to one of the two guards outside the door.

We sat in what was probably a tense silence for the Commander but, for we three Mages, was just a boring couple of minutes, until the guard returned and words were exchanged outside the tent flap.

When the Commander re-took his chair, his twitching eye was back. "...Misters Conbolt and Mine both say that they knew for sure Phantom Lord was after Fairy Tail when Ms Lockser appeared and spoke to them." He managed to grind out, and I gave him a bland look.

"I did say they would."

Growling under his breath, the Commander grabbed another few sheets of paper from what had once been orderly stacks on his field-desk. "But it says here that after learning of what was going to occur, your Guild immediately set off and destroyed the Oak Town branch of Phantom Lord - while, simultaneously, the S-Class Mage Mystogan destroyed _every other branch!"_

I looked at the man like I thought he was an idiot - which, really, I did. "How long have you been based in Magnolia?"

"I don't see what that has to do with-"

"Because if you've been here any decent length of time," I continued, ignoring him, "you should know that we in Fairy Tail greatly believe in the adage that 'The best defence is an apocalyptic offense.'"

There was more eye-twitching. "That doesn't excuse _anything!"_

"Very true." I admitted. "Unless you take into account that what you're calling the first 'offensive' action taken by Fairy Tail - which we simply see as assertive self-defense - was _preempted_ by Phantom Lord's attempt to kidnap one of our members. One of our young, female members, from a rich family."

The Commander glared at me. "You can't possibly know that - the kidnapping attempt you're speaking of happened _on the same night_ as the assault on Phantom Lord! There's no way to tell whether Fairy Tail or Phantom Lord acted first!"

"Then you can't say for sure that we _didn't_ act reactively." I shot back. "'Innocent until proven guilty' is a basic right for any charged individual, while Fairy Tail's prior history of inter-Guild conflict is limited to instances wherein they are the defending party rather than the offenders - something I'm _damn_ sure can't be said for Phantom Lord."

The Commander frowned, probably trying to bring to mind both Guilds' actual history of charges - but I overran his thought processes. "Let's face facts, Commander." I began, crossing my right leg over my left knee and interlacing my fingers, resting my hands on my right knee.

"Any arrests of Fairy Tail members made at this point in time - under _your_ judgement - will be viewed as victim abuse by even the most disparaging of Fairy Tail's detractors. We were acting in the defence of a young woman newly admitted to our Guild who clearly didn't wish to comply with an attempt to illegally confine her before _supposedly_ returning her to her father - a man whom the lady in question has a _very_ low opinion of.

"Meanwhile, Jose Porla was attempting to illegally kidnap an affluent young woman of considerable beauty, and in the process of doing so he utilised magical weapons of mass destruction alongside Dark Magic, while simultaneously running ramshod all over the Magic Council's laws - all with his Wizard Saint medallion in plain view."

The Commander swallowed. _Heavily._

"There will be no jail time." I stated. "There will likely not even be any fines, as after tonight I have no doubt Phantom Lord will be a defunct Guild legally as well as physically and thus any debts incurred through the destruction of their property will dissolve with their corporate identity. No, Fairy Tail are going to come out of this smelling of roses and more popular than ever as the saviours of Magnolia - so the question is, Commander…"

I leaned forward, fixing the Commander in place with my eyes. "Are you going to be the hero of the hour for your swift handling and incarceration of the Dark Guild Phantom Lord and its affiliated S-Class threats...or are my Guildmates and I going to have to air our sorrows about our persecution at the hands of Magnolia's Rune Knights during our next interviews with Sorceror Weekly?"

* * *

I exited the tent, followed quickly by Juvia and Gajeel. The former broke away from us instantly to go and seek out Gray, undoubtedly hoping she'd be praised for playing along with the quick spin I'd put on the story, while the latter hung back to stare at me for a few moments.

"I can't fucking believe you just got away with that bullshit."

I gave the Dragon Slayer a raised eyebrow as I tucked my hands into the pockets of my duster.

Gajeel gestured behind us as we started walking again, his thumb indicating the tent which the Commander was exiting to begin the process of arresting Phantom Lord's members and put Fairy Tail through cursory debriefings. "He had a fucking _warrant for your Guild's arrest_ , and you just talked him into _not using it._ "

I nodded, sighing as I cracked my neck. "I've done way too much talking today; it feels like I used my mouth more than my Magic."

The Dragon Slayer snorted. "I wouldn't be surprised with a pixie like you."

I would have shrugged if my shoulder wasn't starting to act up; whatever painkiller I'd been on was starting to fail, I was fairly sure. "So, I was part of the group that turned your Guild's ultimate weapon into a shish kebab and I'm a _pixie_? What, would I have to have beaten that thing single-handed for some respect or something?"

The heavily pierced teen turned an appraising look on me, then snorted again and turned away, sticking his hands in his own pockets. "You'd still be a pixie then - you're a scrawny little bastard…"

' _Alright, just because he's got an_ inch _on me…'_

"But for a fairy, you've got a sting on you."

I blinked - but my attention was taken away from the unexpected compliment (?) when we reached my intended destination.

Levy looked up from where she'd been looking after Lucy, whose head was laying on a Solid Script 'PILLOW', and gave me a tired smile - before also seeing Gajeel, causing her expression to freeze.

I smacked myself internally for not getting rid of the Dragon Slayer earlier, but to my surprise, the blunette didn't flinch away.

Instead, she pushed herself to her feet - standing, even if a bit unsteadily, and staring up at the Dragon Slayer who towered over her.

Gajeel looked back, hands still in his pockets, covered in bruises, cuts and burns, without any real expression. "What, have I got somethin' on my face pipsqueak?"

Levy's look became a glare, and she took a deep breath before speaking. "...Join Fairy Tail."

I blinked.

Gajeel blinked.

I don't have any evidence of it, but I am sure that someone, somewhere out in Earthland's maze of astral planes, did a perfect spit-take.

There were a few moments of silence, then the Dragon Slayer spoke. "...Did I knock something loose in that skull of yours during that pitiful excuse for a fight?" He asked. "Why would I want to join your trash Guild?"

Levy's glare intensified. "It wasn't a request, asshole."

I'm not sure what surprised me more - Levy cussing at someone, or her _trying to talk Gajeel into joining Fairy Tail._

Actually, I'm not even kidding myself.

"What, you're trying to order me around?" Gajeel demanded, looming forward. "Who the Hell d'you think you are brat?"

"My _name_ ," Levy snapped, "is Levy McGarden - and _you_ have no Guild, nowhere to go, Phantom Lord's reputation clinging to you and a debt on your shoulders."

The Iron Dragon Slayer smiled.

It wasn't pleasant.

"And just who," he drawled, "among all you fairies am I meant to owe something worth a damn?"

"So your freedom means that little to you?" Levy shot back, drawing another round of blinks from Gajeel and I before she continued.

"If Declan hadn't claimed you as an accomplice in the battle, a double agent, then you would have been fingered as one of Phantom Lord's most powerful members and the one who fired the opening salvo in the Guild War; you would have gone down just as hard as Jose."

' _She...actually has a point.'_

"You might be strong, but if the Magic Council put a bounty on you then people would start coming out of the woodwork to hunt you and be seen as one who took down Gajeel Redfox, the initiator of the Guild War that nearly wiped out Magnolia."

I could picture exactly what Levy was talking about - and apparently Gajeel could too, as his expression darkened into a stormy scowl.

The blunette didn't back down. "As things stand, the only possible way for you to support the story keeping you from being arrested is to become a member of Fairy Tail - that other Mage, the girl, she's not going to be leaving Gray alone any time soon, and that means she'll join sooner or later; so, if you don't do the same, you'll be the odd one out and you'll attract the wrong kind of attention."

Gajeel was silent for a long moment as he contemplated the Solid Script Mage. "And what," he asked, "if I just don't give a fuck? If I decide to just head out on my own and beat the shit out of whoever comes after me so bad no one else will dare follow?"

Levy got a glint in her eye, and played her trump card. "Then, you'll never get a chance to beat Natsu."

The Iron Dragon Slayer stared at Levy for several long moments - then, abruptly, burst out laughing. "GIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI!"

Finally shaking off his mirth, Gajeel bared sharp teeth. "So, that's what you're playing at, is it?"

He spread his arms wide, teeth still bared. "You couldn't take me with both those idiot teammates of yours; not even the pixie here," he jerked his head toward me, "could do shit to me. You really think if you press-gang me into your trash heap you can just keep trying until you manage to beat me some day?"

Levy didn't so much as flinch. " **Yes."**

"GIIIIIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI!"

The laughter went on for twice as long this time, and when it finally ended Gajeel turned on his heel and started stalking off toward Magnolia. "I'll be back when you've finished building yourselves a new shithole to live in!" He called back over his shoulder. "Sharpen your fangs 'till then, girly - I'm gonna be the strongest, and that means I won't go easy on you!"

Levy and I watched him walk away until he vanished beyond the ruins of the Fairy Tail Guild Hall, and then I turned to the blunette - who had slumped in on herself, taking deep breaths and hugging her elbows.

I couldn't help it; I immediately started clapping.

She turned to look up at me, and I shook my head. "Levy…that was _awesome._ "

Levy smiled, chuckling slightly to herself. "Thanks, Declan…" She reached idly up to the centre of her chest, placing her palm over her collarbone. "It was terrifying, though…"

"I couldn't tell." I assured her, patting her shoulder before I turned to the blonde carefully laid on the sand. "Anything change?"

"No." Levy replied, shaking her head. "Like you said, I think she's just sleeping it off - she should be okay with a good night's rest."

I looked up at the sky - the sun was beginning to dip down towards the horizon, putting us at what I'd guess was somewhere around eight o'clock; it being summer and all. "Well, I should probably get her to bed about now then…"

I waved my left hand from Lucy's feet towards her head, causing the blonde to rise off the ground until I could get my arms behind her knees and shoulders and mostly cancel the spell, though for the sake of my shoulder I kept her weight somewhat reduced.

Levy chuckled to herself again, and I raised an eyebrow at her before she waved me off. "It's nothing." She demurred, before straightening her expression. "So, where are you going to take her?"

"Her apartment." I replied, starting to set off toward Magnolia. "She usually leaves the window unlocked - and I can lift the latch with magic anyway."

The blunette kept pace with me for a moment so I could see her shake her head. "It would probably be better if she was somewhere with people tonight; the hospital, or at least where someone can tell if her condition changes."

I paused, considering, then nodded. "Alright - hospital it is then."

I was ready to set off once more, with a new destination in mind, when something occurred to me. "Levy," I began, attracting her attention, "how did you know what I did to get Gajeel off the hook? I only spoke about it with him, Juvia and Gray."

Levy tapped the side of her forehead. "Warren's still keeping everyone linked up," she said, "and he was in Gajeel and the girl's heads too - so he was relaying what you were saying to everyone else."

I blinked a few times. "Well, that's not the kind of thought that induces incredible paranoia at all."

The blunette giggled. "Warren usually keeps his mind to himself, but in situations like this none of us really have a reason to complain about him not asking permission." She tilted her head, considering me. "Though, for some reason he can't quite seem to connect to you…"

I considered that. "Well, I suppose that's something I'll have to talk about with him later...but I really should get Lucy to the hospital."

"And yourself too, Declan." Levy admonished me. "Don't think I can't see those bandages."

I grunted. "Right, right." I headed off, calling back over my shoulder. "See ya, Levy!"

* * *

 _The Next Day_

When I woke up, it was to the sound of a door bursting open, followed by a familiar, exuberant voice.

"HEY LUCY, IS DECLAN UP YET?!"

I peeled my eyes open with a concerted effort and a groan, blinking away the light which immediately invaded as I tried to sit up and look around.

I managed to get my shoulders off the bed, but when nothing below mid-torso would curl, I knew that the bandages were still in place - a notion which was cemented when I couldn't offer any real resistance to being pushed back down to a full lying position following my attempted shift to verticality.

"Don't go trying to get up yet!" Lucy scolded me, her features slightly blurry still but still largely recognisable by her hair if nothing else. "The doctor said that the bandages can only do so much if you're actively trying to move; you already made things worse with everything you did yesterday."

"I regret nothing." I assured her, attempting to bring up my hands so I could wipe the sleep from my eyes - only my right arm responded, though, so once I had cleared that eye I looked to my left side to find that there was a bandage-and-splint assembly preventing my limb from moving, with other bandages wrapped around the majority of my torso up to my neck and down to my trousers beneath the bed covers.

"Yeah," Lucy sighed, "they didn't seem very happy about the state of your shoulder, either."

I let out a sigh of my own, using my right hand to clear out my left eye, then blinking my vision into focus as I did a quick sweep of the room.

I was back in the same ward I'd woken up in, if I remembered right. Lucy had taken the chair by the bed, on my left side, while to my right the door to the ward had been flung open to reveal what Natsu would probably look like if he was given Egyptian funeral rites.

Well, the bandaging part, at least - I wasn't sure what someone who'd had most of their internal organs removed and pickled would look like, but I wasn't in a major hurry to find out.

The Fire Dragon Slayer was swathed in bandages, from a thick headband around his forehead with anchors over the top of his scalp to wraps around all four of his limbs, leaving only a few patches of skin; even his fingers were bandaged.

He had his sandals on, as well as his usual baggy trousers...though they had obviously seen better days. There was no sign of his vest or the black waist-wrap that went with it, but his scarf was still in place around his neck - wound _over_ the bandages.

He was grinning widely despite the massive amount of injuries he had obviously accumulated. "Good to see you finally woke up, Declan!"

"Thanks, Natsu." I nodded - doing my best to perform the movement from my lying position. I glanced at the window just past Lucy, trying to judge the sky outside. "How long _have_ I been sleeping?"

"Eh, you've been asleep since I got here." Natsu answered. "I mean it took a while for those Rune Knights to go around and tell everyone that they'd come and talk to us again - and what the hell was the point of that, anyway? - but after they'd all gone Gramps got all of us who were really injured and threw us in here on his way to Fairy Hills - he said he was gonna beg a room for the night or something..."

I blinked a couple of times, then let out a sigh. ' _Well, I guess that's Master Makarov for you…'_

"But yeah," Natsu continued, "I tried to find you guys then, but all these nurses and doctors jumped on me and then they stuck something in my arm; everything's kinda weird after that, but when I woke up after the colours stopped tasting like music and asked they said you'd got Lucy here and then passed out 'cause you'd walked off your painkillers."

My eyebrow twitched. ' _Just what the hell did they give him…? I mean, I suppose Dragon Slayers must need something a bit stronger than normal - but that sounds like LSD!'_

Lucy had her eyes closed - but her eyebrow was twitching much like mine was. "I'm starting to think Fairy Tail's madness has really spread to this entire town…"

"It wouldn't surprise me." I told her, before raising an eyebrow. "Do you have a better idea of how long it's been?"

"It's a couple of hours past noon at the moment." Lucy replied promptly, then took note of my quizzical expression. "Oh, I asked Horologium to get me some of my spare clothes so I could change, and he told me how long it had been."

' _Oh yeah - she has changed her clothes, hasn't she?'_

The previous day's outfit of a creased blue skirt and a hip-length, sleeveless white jacket over a short-sleeved pink button-up shirt with a red ribbon tied around the collar had been replaced. Today's was a simpler combination of a dark-grey t-shirt, much like she had worn on Galuna Island, and a black skirt that looked like leather - one just as short as any skirt I'd ever seen her wear.

That brought my attention to noticing my duster, which seemed to have been draped over the back of the chair Lucy was occupying, and I sighed. "I'm gonna have to find someone who can fix those punctures Gajeel left in my coat; maybe I can take a day to head back to Hargeon and pester Oliver…"

"Oliver?" Lucy asked, curiously, and I hummed.

"Yeah - he's the Quartermaster for Hargeon's garrison; he's done more repair work on that coat than I think he's done on any other single piece of equipment. I'm not sure there's part of it he hasn't had to work on at least once."

Magical combat wasn't kind to clothing; in particular when you preferred a close-range approach, like I did. Swords, maces, hammers, polearms, spears - not to mention all the varied Magics out there, which, when it came to bandits, were usually dedicatedly destructive.

And it wasn't like the duster was a small target; sure, I chose to wear it, but I had to acknowledge that with the way it flapped about it could sometimes get in the way - or at the very least, end up taking hits that I otherwise dodged.

My coat had been burnt, frozen, slashed, stabbed, melted and even disintegrated at one time or another - usually only in small segments, true, but the only reason it didn't look like Victor Frankenstein got into fashion design were the enchanted tools Oliver had bought from Buggy once the Grocer started growing, which - so long as they were kept charged for him - allowed the Quartermaster to turn his patch jobs into seamless integrations.

This was, unfortunately, another area in which I was...less than talented. There was a lot more to leatherworking than I had at one point known or even knew now, and though I had tried to learn some of the trade from Oliver I just never got the hang of it.

Thankfully I was usually better at keeping the rest of my wardrobe in one piece (though if I was any judge, I'd have to burn the shirt I was wearing when I fought Gajeel - blood was hard enough to work out even with Magic that the amount I must have bled on it just wasn't worth the effort.) - but I'd hoped I might have outgrown the bi-weekly trips to get my apparel repaired.

Alas, it was not to be.

"You know, I really don't know much about what things were like for you in Hargeon." Lucy noted, resting her elbows on her knees and then her chin on the upturned heels of her hands. "I mean, you obviously knew that Captain Branston you mentioned - and apparently the rest of the guards too. Archie said you were like the town's defender, but you worked in the magic store as an assistant.

"It feels like there's a story there, you know?" She asked, and I swallowed.

I really didn't need anyone poking into where I'd come from - I'd been incredibly lucky in Hargeon that Captain Branston, Buggy, Amelia and the others I worked with accepted that I was from some small place they'd never heard of and had only recently come into my magical talent...but I was fairly sure that acceptance didn't mean they believed me.

Whatever they believed to be my past, they'd answer any questions along those lines with the same answer I gave them...yet if anyone asked me for details, I could only really deflect.

Maybe at some point I'd have an opportunity to set up some kind of false home; maybe using Magic, perhaps bribing someone to say I was from their orphanage or something...but I didn't have any kind of solid starting point that could be traced in Earthland at the moment, and that was the kind of thing that raised eyebrows and alarms.

I opened my mouth to try and wave off Lucy's question in the hope that she would lose interest - for the moment, at least - but found that my salvation coming from another direction.

"Oh yeah, you were friends with the police in Hargeon!" Natsu recalled, tapping his right fist into his left palm in a gesture that seemed to accompany him reaching a conclusion. "So is that where you learned how to talk to the Rune Knights like that?"

I blinked, but took the out I was being offered - Lucy seemed at least partially interested in this topic as well, so it should distract her from asking about my earlier history. "Mostly, yeah." I nodded - I was getting the hang of managing it with my head partially submerged in my pillow. "I spent enough time around the guards that I started to understand how they'd act, and when they talked they'd sometimes give me an idea of what kind of things they disliked.

"Quite a lot of what they talked about was complaining," I admitted, "so I picked up on things. Like, the Rune Knights are generally all on the same level with the only authority coming with seniority or respect from their fellows...except the division heads, but they're chosen especially by the Magic Council, and getting that to happen takes something special.

"Anyway, that means that the Rune Knights who want to get anywhere have to make sure they don't put a foot wrong and lose whatever respect they've gained from their peers or the Magic Council. If they come under inspection that goes on their record and that affects their chances for promotion - and if worst comes to worst and they're the cause of an audit being performed on their garrison, then they can kiss any respect they had among their peers goodbye, as well as any hope of rising above the rank of cannon fodder.

"So, they're not likely to take risks that could hurt their careers; and even the ones who have external support, like rich families or noble heritage, play it safe."

I glanced at Lucy, who grimaced at the mention of rich families but nodded - she'd certainly understand that, she'd probably heard enough about it from either her father or one of the people who looked after her and taught her. "So, knowing that, it means the Rune Knights can be... _persuaded_ , where sometimes other people can't be." I continued.

"After that, it's mostly just about knowledge and confidence. Knowledge of the law and how far it can be pushed; the circumstances of the event; how it looks socially and politically; how the Magic Council operate and make decisions...and having the confidence to take a risk on that knowledge being enough to leverage the result you want."

Natsu nodded. "I think I kinda get it…" He said slowly. "So, it's kinda like a feint?"

I raised an eyebrow, and the Dragon Slayer continued. "That guy back on the beach _could_ have had us all locked up, 'cause we broke the Magic Council's law about fighting with other Guilds, right?"

I nodded.

"But at the same time...you said it's about how things look, so it's like how people see it; so when you said it would make him look bad if he arrested us because people would see us as heroes for stopping Phantom, you meant he could have caused an...audio?"

"Audit," I corrected, "but I think I understand what you mean. He _could_ have arrested us anyway, if he believed I was just bluffing and trying to get us out of trouble - but instead, he saw I was confident in what I was saying and so he believed me, meaning he didn't 'block the hit' and ended up doing what I wanted him to."

"Got it!" Natsu grinned. "Gramps has talked about fighting with words before, but I guess I never quite got it." He paused. "Well, I guess I kinda talked a lot while I was beating up that bolts-for-brains Gajeel...does that count…?"

I considered for a moment. "Well, it's not quite what Master Makarov was probably talking about, but the Talk-no-Jutsu technique could be seen as fighting with words I suppose…"

Natsu's grin widened, and he leaned back his head to laugh at the ceiling. "That'll teach that damn ice-stripper - since all he ever does is talk shit, there's no way he'll ever be able to use the…"

He looked at me again, and the corner of my mouth twitched upward. "Talk-no-Jutsu."

"Yeah, the Talk-no-Jutsu!" Natsu declared, before turning around, waving over his shoulder. "Glad to see you're up - I'll see you at the Guild, but I'm gonna go find Gray!"

With that, he ran out of sight down the corridor. A few seconds later, a panting Happy the Cat padded into view, hands on his knees. "Wait up, Natsu!" He called. "I can't fly again yet, so carry me!"

The sound of pounding footsteps turned into a rubber-on-tarmac screech that I didn't think sandals were supposed to make, then the footsteps resumed once more, heading back our way.

In the meantime, the blue cat turned sideways and saw Lucy and I. He smiled, waving. "Hey, Lucy! Hey, Declan!"

The blonde waved back, and I did a sort of awkward, whole-arm movement that raised and lowered my right arm in a fair approximation of a wave. "Hey, Happy - good to see you're feeling better."

"Aye!" The feline declared proudly, putting his paws on his hips. "It would take more than some massive, scary ghost-man thing to put me down!"

I chuckled to myself, and Lucy sighed. "I'm sure it would, Happy."

Perhaps he caught on to the faint exasperation in Lucy's voice, or maybe it was just that he'd not spoke with us for several hours and that was far too long to go without exercising his mischievous streak, but the glint which appeared in Happy's eye was the only warning I got before he spoke again.

"Well it took more than Gajeel could do to make Declan put _you_ down; as Natsu's partner there's no way I couldn't be way more awesome than that!"

At that moment, Natsu re-entered our field of view as he screeched to another halt outside the doorway. "C'mon Happy, you need to keep up!" The pink-haired teen declared, picking the feline up under his front paws and lifting him to his neck where the cat could hang on. "We gotta find Gray fast so we can go into town and get something to eat!"

The response of "Aye!" dopplered away into the distance as Natsu took off running once again, leaving Lucy and I to our own devices.

Our now exceedingly _awkward_ devices.

"...I couldn't think of any other way to get you to the hospital." I said, head turned to face the door instead of Lucy. "Plus Levy wouldn't just let me go to my apartment, so…"

There was a soft chuckle from beside me, one which quickly became a somewhat stifled giggle. "Ever the shining knight, sweeping people off their feet…"

I could feel my ears turn a brighter shade of red and start to burn, and I would have crossed my arms if I had more than one available to me. "That's just profiling; and besides, I don't _shine_ \- I'm not some sparkly rainbow-person."

"Oh, I know you're not; you're Hargeon's 'Planetary Anchor' after all, the tall, dark stranger who walks into town one day and leads an unassuming life by day - but, by night, stalks the streets delivering justice and drama!"

Lucy's voice was more barely-restrained laughter than speech now, but I could make out her words just fine. "Declan Ross; the dark terror which flaps in the night!"

' _...I_ know _she didn't just make that reference, because that reference_ doesn't exist here _, but_ fucking really?!'

I turned over to shoot her an incredulous look, only getting as far as lying on my back again since the contraption on my left arm didn't seem like it would appreciate me lying on it - but that just made her break into full-on laughter instead, holding her sides with her eyes closed and her cheeks glowing red.

"I...I can still remember," she managed to choke out, "how that coat of yours looked when we did the Everlue job…"

Lucy put her hands on her knees, as if trying to support her upper body against the effort of her laughter. "It had always been billowy and dramatic before...but then, when you were flying, it just went-"

Her arms went flying out to her sides and to an angle which raised her forearms above her head, as if imitating a pair of spreading wings. " _Whooosh!"_ She declared - before starting to swing her arms down and then back up again, like she was flapping her imaginary wings. "It just kept going all over the place and making that flapping sound I could hear from the library!" She laughed, bringing her hands back to her sides. "It was like a duck the size of a wagon was flying around in there!"

I spent a few seconds just staring blankly at my partner. Then, I felt a roiling sensation begin in my belly, rise up through my lungs, and finally exit my mouth as a laugh of my own.

We spent at least a minute there, me lying in bed and Lucy sitting bent nearly double beside me, laughing ourselves silly. An image of myself, dressed in an indigo button-up shirt and trousers, a wide grey fedora and a long, flapping cloak crossed my mind's eye, and I decided then and there that I was at least going to find myself an appropriately oversized hat - just to recall this moment if for no other reason.

I finally ran out of laughter what felt like several minutes later, bringing my right hand up to my throat to rub at it a bit - it felt scratchy and a bit dry; something I'd exacerbated with my laughing fit.

I coughed a couple of times to try and get it back in working order, swallowing before speaking. "I feel like I should defend my fashion sense, but my coat and I are above your petty derogations."

Lucy chuckled again, letting out a sigh as she smiled. "Well, I won't bruise your fragile male ego any more with my nasty words, then."

I sniffed, doing my best to turn my nose up - another action that lying down made much more difficult. "So long as you know your place."

There was another chuckle from Lucy. "Don't worry about that - I definitely know my place."

There was a rustle of cloth - then, as I was bringing my head back to its normal position, I found my vision turning gold.

I stopped moving for a moment, registering the warmth I could feel through the bandages on my torso, feeling the shifting of Lucy's hair on my cheek. "...Lucy?"

My partner, who had leaned down from her chair to wrap her arms around my neck in a hug, sounded like she was smiling. "You said I should always expect you to be right behind me…well, that's not going to work for me."

"...Oh?" I managed to ask, not entirely sure what the appropriate response to my situation was and finding it hard to pick the right words.

"We're partners, Declan." Lucy re-stated. "But so far...you've always been helping me, when I was scared or didn't have confidence; you've been helping me move forward ever since we joined the Guild."

I frowned, opening my mouth to speak-

"Your next line is, 'You didn't need my help, Lucy.'."

"You didn't need my help, Lu-"

I blinked. Once, twice, then I could feel the vibration that travelled through Lucy as she laughed. "I really wish I could see your expression right now."

"...You stole my thing." I managed to complain, prompting another laugh.

"Well, it'll just have to be our thing then."

Finally, Lucy drew back from the hug - but only enough that I could see her face, the smile she was wearing. "You've helped me a lot, Declan - but I...I haven't been as much help to you. I knew it on Galuna when you brought down that rat and those two guys, I knew it when you ran off to save Levy, Jet and Droy and I knew it when you got us all together to take down that monster Jose made and then faced down the Celestial Spirit King when I ran out of magical power."

There, I interjected. "Lucy, what happened during that Unison Raid...it couldn't have been done without you. There would have been no way for just Gray, Juvia and I to manage that; if you hadn't been there, then I would never have-"

"And if you hadn't been there, there's no way I could ever have been part of something so incredible." Lucy interrupted _me_ in turn. "There was so much going on...I was so angry, and I was scared, and...if you hadn't taken the first step, hadn't helped me move forward like you always do, that attack would never have happened."

...There wasn't a counter-argument to that.

"But I can't always need you there to help me put that first foot forward." She declared, reaching over my torso and grabbing hold of my right hand with hers, dragging it back until both our hands were resting on my torso.

"If we're going to be partners, then I have to be able to take that first step _beside_ you - not in front of you or behind you. After...this…" She gestured to my bed-ridden self, "it's obvious that I...I need to stop hesitating."

I looked up at her, at a complete loss for words - but when she shook my hand, I had enough presence of mind to mimic the action.

"I'm Lucy Heartfilia, of Fairy Tail." She declared, gripping my hand and smiling down at me with a spark in her eyes.

"...I'm Declan Ross, of Fairy Tail." I answered, returning the grip and feeling an indelible smile grow on my face.

"I look forward to working with you…" / "I look forward to working with you…"

"" _Partner.""_

* * *

 _At the Beachfront near Fairy Tail…_

Makarov, dressed in his preferred outfit of bright-orange trousers and jacket, with a white shirt emblazoned with the Fairy Tail emblem in black, brown shoes with upturned pointy toes and a blue-and-orange striped hat with two long tails like a jester's hat might boast, stood on the beach and cast his eyes around.

Those black eyes took in the sand and the surf - but they also looked beyond that, to whole other worlds that underlay and overlay what most saw on a day-to-day basis. They saw the fractures in some and the repaired damage in others - the signs of weights that some planes weren't meant to cope with, stresses beyond the mortal and material; the signs of power that had dispersed and intertwined, healing old wounds and binding together what had been fractured.

But most of all, they saw the great cascade of celestial light which still resided in this area, and would continue to do so for perhaps the next thousand years.

"The Celestial Spirit King…" He muttered aloud, a golden flicker crossing his irides, before he cast his gaze downward - seeing the misty trails that stood before the great pillar of starlight. One was almost identical, though only in nature...yet however far removed in power it might have been it was, if anything, even purer than the traces left behind by the Celestial Monarch.

Traces of that same Monarch's strength were woven in the second cloud, but were wrapped 'round with power that sprung from the same source, but took a different path - it gained different character, new texture, before it vanished into the outline of a door that had only one opening in their world.

The last cloud was nothing like the others. It was dark, black and purple and dark blues, and even as Makarov watched it spun around itself, drawing together in clumps that in turn attracted more, seeming always to become more compact, as if one day the traces - instead of dispersing - would become some small, fixed, yet utterly immutable part of the world around them.

Makarov idly wondered if the Ross kid even realised just what the hell he was actually doing - then decided that no, he probably didn't; if he'd known what the hell he was doing there was no way he'd have not used some sign of it when Phantom came calling.

But there was no sign - instead, Makarov now knew for a fact that Ross had no idea what the fuck he was or what he was capable of.

And Makarov? Makarov had a goddamn headache, and it was all the kid's fault.

The old man reached up and tugged at one end of his moustache for a moment, thinking...then hit upon a brilliant idea, prompting a wide smile to spread across his face.

If any of his children had been around to see it, they would undoubtedly have begun running for cover.

Yes - Makarov knew _exactly_ how Ross would get his comeuppance.

Ah - some days, it paid to have a reputation as an irreverent, senile old man; he'd never get away with half of what he did if he was still in his thirties.

Although, maybe then he'd still have his hair…

Makarov shrugged, before turning to head back toward what remained of his Guild Hall. He'd need to write out some plans for the new building...maybe his crayons had survived the demolition attempt…

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **Someone ask the Rune Knights if they're okay, 'cause they just got hit by a smooth criminal.**

 **Anyway, featured in this chapter - Declan does** _ **yet more talking!**_ **Hopefully you could bear with it and wrap your heads around the way I'm presenting Fiore - which is, basically, a country split right down the middle politically where both sides require the other in order to survive, but a certain amount of the populace really don't care about that and just end up causing even more problems.**

 **So, yes - Lucy, Levy and Gajeel are all developing rather differently from in canon. Levy, Jet and Droy were all faced - not with a spirit-crushing, overwhelming defeat, but rather with a situation in which they had to abandon a guild-mate to the fate meant for them in order to save themselves and pass along information.**

 **And if there's one thing that'll light the fire in any Fairy Tail Mage, it's their comrades.**

 **So yes, Levy wants Gajeel there so that she, Jet and Droy can eventually surpass him; she's set him as the goal they need to catch up to, while Gajeel himself has decided that sticking around Fairy Tail will give him an opportunity to grow stronger.**

 **He also doesn't particularly like Declan - but he can at least respect the bullshit he throws.**

 **As for Lucy - well, I've made no bones about the fact that she's going to be a somewhat different person in this story, and this is where that really starts. Rather than having the indestructible Natsu as her partner, the infinitely-more destructible Declan has taken that place, and with him having gained a few new dents from a situation Lucy perceives as being her fault, that same Fairy Tail drive kicks in.**

 **Hopefully it's not all incredibly out of character and story-breaking; and as for Lucy pulling a Joseph - well, she's characterised as one of the series' most intelligent characters, and for me, that means she is just as smart as I can make her - which is as smart as myself/Declan, as smart as Levy and as smart as several antagonists and other characters that have yet to appear.**

 **You don't get anywhere in life by being an idiot - unless you're a shonen protagonist, but this story isn't exactly shonen anymore, so...yeah.**

 **Now then - on to the** **Reviews:**

 **-Squadpunk 2.0, Vultures isn't too far from the truth as far as I see it; and indeed. There is no rest. There is no mercy. There is only the ever-dreaded...POLITICS! *shock and horror***

 **-Blacksword Zero, Ch. 18 - Thanks!**

 **-MalumAnima, That's fair enough - people read fanfiction usually because they like the original story, so sometimes when there are deviations people find they don't like the change. And that's fine - that's how opinions work, that's how people work. But still, I'm glad to know that you enjoyed it in the end! With Lucy as the main pairing and one of the main characters, you be sure that there** _ **will**_ **be more on Celestial Spirits later on; the interactions between them, the way they and their world function, I'm going to explore as much as I can and have a lot of fun doing so! P.S. I'm rather hyped for Bluenote vs Declan as well; rest assured, Chibaku Tensei is coming - I have it planned out already, and it's going to be** _ **glorious.**_

 **-kumbrakarna, And I loved writing it xD I hope this was quick enough for you.**

 **-Drunkle Qrow, Ch. 18 - Hell, I don't see half the stuff in this story coming - AND OF COURSE I SHALL REMAIN AWESOME! I AM, AFTER ALL, THE GRRRRRRREAT TENINSHIGEN! NYEH!**

 **-Keelan1210, Ch. 18 - Realistically, it was mostly a quick decision on the Celestial Spirit King's part to tie a potentially useful asset to his Kingdom for a later time - under the influence of Narritivium, it's going to be a bit more meaningful, but that's story-telling for you. I'm looking forward to the artwork too - glad you enjoyed the omake!**

 **-The Storm Master 567, Ch. 11 - Hm - the black rods are certainly an interesting idea and I'll have to play with that at some point. However, as far as sword styles go - Declan will remain unarmed in the close-range as a matter of him just plain being useless with swords, but he's going to have compensation for that.**

 **-'Ibn', Ch. 18, Aug 11 - A train wreck in motion indeed. I do believe that build-up is important, though I sometimes feel that maybe this story moves too slowly at times - still, I suppose that's up to what I write, so I can only hope this continues to be worth waiting for :) And as for Declan vs Laxus...hehehe, I'm looking forward to that too.**

 **-Blaze1992, Ch.18 - Fairy Tail Mages are, much like Strawhat Pirates, masters of the art of bullshittery - though most of them never seem to exploit that. Well...Declan's all about the use of available resources :3**

 **-TheRangerBoy, Ch.18 - Hey, if it got you laughing, I'm happy with it :)**

 **-BlackDove WhiteDove, Ch. 1 - I'm glad you think so!**

 **-BlackDove WhiteDove, Ch. 2 - Glad to hear it!**

 **-Infernus est in animo, I have the biggest smile right now; thank you, man!**

 **-The Storm Master 567, Ch. 13 & 14 - Spoilers~ :3**

 **-BlackDove WhiteDove, Ch. 5 - Why, thank you!**

 **-BlackDove WhiteDove, Ch. 6 - SCIENCE! INDEED! Thank you very much for the compliment :)**

 **-HelpfulNudge, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)**

 **-BlackDove WhiteDove, Ch. 10 - I'm really glad you're enjoying it! :D**

 **-Zeru'Xil, The more he speaks, the digger the hole he digs - then he flips gravity, and suddenly the hole is an escape chute. There** _ **shall**_ **be glory!**

 **-BlackDove WhiteDove, Ch. 13 - Goosebumps are a sign of investment in a story; that's a high compliment! :D**

 **-BlackDove WhiteDove, Ch. 15 - With 100% pure sugar.**

 **-BlackDove WhiteDove, Ch. 16 - Don't go hurting your throat on my account, but I'm glad there's someone so enthusiastic! :)**

 **-osaki-monti, I usually don't like making people cry...but so long as they are happy tears, I shall make an exception! You've picked up on the hidden point of that scene -** _ **yes**_ **, Unison Raid is a very difficult thing to achieve, and** _ **yes**_ **, part of Declan's special attribute allows him to ease that process - but saying more than that would be spoilers, I'm afraid, so I hope you keep enjoying the story as I approach writing the reveal :)**

 **-Grubkiller13579, *reads idea* … *pauses* … *blinks* … *smiles like Gol D. 'motherfucking' Roger.* "Fuck. The Hell. YES." Also, I'm incredibly happy to hear you've decided to try writing your own story; if you get in touch with my fellow writer, PSIness11, or even just check his Profile Page here on fanfic, you should find a link to a Discord chat we use for discussing story ideas with people. There aren't all that many up-and-coming Fairy Tail authors, so we'd be happy to offer some help if you want some.**

 **-deltadragon373, Well, I took most of the Gray vs Juvia fight from the manga itself, so…I'm afraid to say that yes - that's Juvia. And she didn't exactly calm down as time went by, either.**

 **-BlackDove WhiteDove, Ch. 18 - It does an author good to see someone so enthusiastic reading their story; I hope the chapter is worth the wait and you continue to enjoy my work!**

 **-'Guest', Ch. 18, Aug 13 - Yes, it is now a thing - and I really want it on a shirt too. On the front it'll say 'Your next line is…' and on the back it'll say, 'Is that a JoJo's reference?'**

 **-Jaz-147, I understand that preference - and normally, Lucy** _ **would**_ **have changed his mind; even here, it was partially her preference - and her shown willingness to run her magical power into the ground for Loke - that helped sway his opinion. Unfortunately, helping destroy an evil magic-gundam kinda tuckered Lucy out, so Declan started running his mouth and couldn't stop.**

 **-'Guest', Ch. 18, Aug 17 - I'm of the opinion that the number of follows and favourites on a story are less important than how much the people who** _ **are**_ **following it enjoy reading it; sure I love having those extra numbers, but so long as my readers are happy I don't need hordes of fans :) That being said, thanks for the compliment! I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

 **-Keelan1210, Ch. 19 - Hell, I have that feeling while I'm reading Fairy Tail xD But still, with shows like Toradora or Clannad, that slow burn is** _ **always**_ **worth the wait. … Shit, now I want to go re-watch them…**

 **-TheRangerBoy, Ch. 19 - 0.0** _ **Oooooh myyyyy~**_

 **-BlackDove WhiteDove, Ch. 19 - Glad to hear it made you laugh! :D**

 **-Le Dergenbern, I can't really top that - but sometimes when I get really startled I start speaking in Scots (which is basically English with a really thick Scottish accent) - but since I don't normally** _ **have**_ **a Scottish accent, it generally seems like I just got fucking possessed.**

 **-SirRacha, Ch. 1 - Well, I'm afraid to say that the pairing is** _ **not**_ **a mistake - that pairing will be realised at** _ **some**_ **point in this story, though it'll be fairy slow-burn. And yeah, Fairy Tail can be a bit embarrassing to admit to owning - but if you can get past the gratuitous fanservice, I think it's a brilliant read/watch. Also, while canon is my original baseline, this story will be more of a wibbly-wobbly...timey-wimey...** _ **mess.**_

 **-SirRacha, Ch. 2 - Quite simply? Declan is…not entirely right in the head, in some respects. He's not a normal person and he doesn't have a normal person's disposition, and while he wonders what things might have been like if he remained home he finds it would be too much effort to waste time thinking about it and prefers to get on with what he can achieve in Earthland.**

 **-Blacksword Zero, Ch. 19 - Thanks!**

 **-Blaze1992, Ch. 19 - Really. (Also, is that positive or negative? I really can't tell.)**

 **-'Guest', Ch. 19, Aug 19 - Hehe, I guess great minds think alike! I hope you continue to enjoy my work :)**

 **-'Ibn', Ch. 19, Aug 19 - I might do some others, but omakes that length probably won't be incredibly frequent. Also, I'm glad it met your approval; I've never been sure of my ability to write romance, but 'cute' seems to be on the right track.**

 **-Drunkle Qrow, Ch. 19 - Congratulations, you have started this story's first meme; a meme it now shares with Speeding Through Life. I hope you're happy.**

 **-'shubsnonymous', Ch. 19, Aug 20 - Dear God, it's spreading already!**

 **-PlunnyBreeder, Glad to hear it!**

 **-'Guest', Ch. 19, Aug 22 - I know exactly what you mean...which is, in large part, why I'm hoping to take Lucy in another direction in this story and have her really come into her own. This chapter is the first milestone for that, and I hope it keeps your interest into the future :)**

 **-Akashic Records, I'm always glad to hear that the characters are recognisable - and I'm even happier to hear that the story's fun, because if a Fairy Tail fic** _ **isn't**_ **fun somehow then there's something wrong. As far as using a Black Hole against Jellal - well, unfortunately I can confirm that won't happen...but that doesn't mean the blueberry jelly's gonna get off light :)**

 **-Scrapper123, Well...damn. That's some incredible praise, and I can only hope I continue to earn it. (Also, I know that feel - my record is reading fanfiction from when I got into bed at 9:00PM until I got out of bed at 6:50AM the next morning so I could get ready for school. I was lucky enough that it was a short day - but still, I know that feel.)**

 **-Lightsbane1905, I understand and sympathise, as a NaLu shipper myself - but this is how the plan came together, so I hope the story is enjoyable enough that you can still find pleasure in reading it.**

 **End of Reviews**

 ***Phew* - Christ that was a big author's note. They just keep** _ **growing!**_

 **Ah well, nothing to be done about it. Now - I have an announcement to make.**

 **On the 2nd of September, I'm moving into my new accommodation at University, and then I'll be beginning classes soon after. I imagine this is going to cut into my writing time quite heavily, so I don't think I'll be able to match the pace I've set in the past couple of months. With that said, I** _ **will**_ **keep writing - but I'm afraid we'll be back to incredibly long breaks between chapters.**

 **Thank you for your support thus far - I hope you continue to enjoy the story.**

' **Till we meet again,**

 **-Teninshigen**

 **(PSIness11): I want you all to know that I have spent the last week playing video games and doing jack shit.**

 ** **(PSIness11):** It was glorious.**


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